


punched in the arm and you're to blame (you give love a bad name)

by SEpupppupp (ForNought)



Category: Produce 101 (TV)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - College/University, Exes, Friendship, Infidelity, Multi, Pining, hyunmin has literally dated every single one of his friends, one-sided byun hyunmin/hong eunki, one-sided byun hyunmin/yoo hoeseung, past byun hyunmin/everyone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-05
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2019-03-27 09:48:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 30,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13878345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForNought/pseuds/SEpupppupp
Summary: Hyunmin's friends are sick of his loud and persistent pining over his next-door neighbour and convince him to finally do something about it.





	punched in the arm and you're to blame (you give love a bad name)

**Author's Note:**

> today i am cheating because unlike the others some of this had been written before the start of this year. but!!!! this is one of fics that the cress fic killed and i wanted to revive it because i actually wrote 20k of it before giving up!
> 
> it was originally based on [this tweet](https://twitter.com/WannaOnePrompts/status/876478549925871616) from wannaoneprompts and came about because i wanted to try writing some 99-line fun. it even predates [... Had Roast Beef (Pizza)](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11331585) which is where i found an outlet for that particular desire. 
> 
> after being sad about abandoning it for a while i changed the focus (yes, altering prompts beyond recognition and writing something different is becoming a habit now) and it is very different to anything else i have written.. i think (but as usual not much makes sense hahha)
> 
> so this is a fic about hyunmin being in love with eunki who only actually appears for like 500 words total

 

 

Hyunmin didn't like to think about how most of his friends became his friends. Well, he did but he pretended to be humble and would make feeble attempts to redirect the conversation if the subject ever came up. Unless the person who brought up the topic was his brother who had to love Hyunmin regardless of the size of his ego.

“Which one of your exes are you meeting today?” Hyunjun asked as he laced up his sort of fashionable military boots which had belonged to Hyunmin for half a week. It was some coincidence that his brother would be asking that while wearing those shoes but Hyunmin tried to pay that no mind. He dropped his gaze down to his clothes and wondered if he was being too obvious about the peek of collarbones and tight trapezius muscles that his shirt revealed.

Hyunmin sniffed and quietly said, “Hweseung-hyung.”

Hyunjun huffed and shuffled around to look at Hyunmin with lofty derision.

“Why do you see him so often? Are you sure you aren't going out with him still?”

“I’m sure,” Hyunmin grumbled. Hweseung was the only person Hyunmin had ever confessed to, but he wasn't the only person who had dumped Hyunmin. He still quite liked Hweseung, but he also liked a few other people to varying degrees. It was things like that which had Hweseung reeling off his usual excuse. It didn't hurt so much for Hyunmin to say it these days. “I’m still too young for him.”

“Your age difference isn't going to change, you know.”

Hyunmin knew that very well but, when Hweseung had dumped him after four and a half months of Hweseung avoiding anything more intimate than holding hands, Hyunmin still hoped that there could be some future. Hweseung hadn't completely dismissed the idea of them getting back together in future so it was one of the many things Hyunmin allowed himself to quietly hope for.

There was no reason for Hyunmin to stop hoping when Hweseung did nothing to discourage him.

“You look good,” Hweseung noted as they waited in line to order drinks at their usual café. “Is that shirt new?”

Hyunmin posed a bit, in case Hweseung wanted an excuse to compliment him more, and said, “This old thing? I just threw on the first thing I saw this morning.”

That was a lie. The shirt was similar to one that Hweseung owned, but it wasn't the same. Even when they were going out with each other, Hyunmin had never been able to get Hweseung undressed enough to be able to look at the label to find out what brand the shirt was. He had spent far too many weeks of his life dragging Sunghyuk and Mina to every shop he could think of to find a matching couple-shirt and only ended up with this sort of similar shirt which scratched Hyunmin’s skin in a way Heeseung’s shirt never had.

Hweseung, because he was one of the most perfect people Hyunmin knew, smiled like he knew Hyunmin was lying.

“It suits you.”

Hyunmin was very pleased with that. He was even more pleased with Hweseung’s hand at his back to prompt him to move forwards as they were the next customers to be served. This was about as good as it got as far as affection from Hweseung was concerned. But Hyunmin’s pride quickly faded as soon as he realised who was regarding him nervously from across the counter.

Park Woojin hesitated before stumbling over his words when asking what he could do to help. Not being here was a good start.

“I didn't know you worked here, Woojin,” Hyunmin said politely.

“It is nice to see you today, Hyunmin,” Woojin replied. Hyunmin didn't really agree. He liked Woojin well enough as a friend but their relationship had turned awkward since university ended for the summer.

When Woojin realised he wasn't getting a response other than a non-committal shrug, he asked for their order. He didn't look like he was listening at all as Hweseung ordered their drinks and a cake that would end up being shared regardless of Hweseung’s insistence that it was only for himself. Whether or not Woojin was listening, he charged Hweseung a price that sounded about right and held the change close to his chest for a moment.

“Forgive me if this is a rude question, but I feel like I have to ask; are you Hyunmin’s boyfriend?”

It was a rude question but ruder than that was Hweseung flicking hyunmin in the back of his head.

“Why are you nodding?” Hweseung asked incredulously. He looked back at Woojin good-naturedly. “I am not his boyfriend.”

“This hyung is my ex,” Hyunmin said quickly. “We might be getting back together.”

Hweseung finally looked like he was getting the hint and finally shut his mouth. He quietly accepted his change from a crestfallen Woojin and didn't speak again until after he had carried their tray to a table near one of the café windows. He passed Hyunmin his hot chocolate - surprisingly it was what he had wanted to so he could only assume that Woojin had actually been listening earlier - and rubbed at his temples.

“Do I want to know what that was about?”

Hyunmin sipped his hot chocolate. “You have known all along that I want us to get back together, Hyung.”

Hweseung looked irritated for a moment and busied himself with breaking off haphazard chunks of carrot cake.

“Not that,” He said. “Is that kid not your friend?”

“Woojin? He is my friend,” Hyunmin confirmed flippantly.

“Really? You weren't very nice to him.”

“He is the person who Hyeongseob likes but he confessed to me,” Hyunmin said. He could hear himself how much less flippant he sounded now but there wasn't much that he could do about that. “Hyeongseob really isn't happy. I said that Woojin doesn't really like me, because he confessed after my Taekwondo club had a demonstration at the university a few weeks ago, but he is still implementing stage four of ignoring me.”

Hweseung smiled wryly. “You are still at stage four?”

Hweseung and Hyunmin had both been classified as stage four of being ignored when they first started going out with each other last year. Stage four consisted of hitting other people who mentioned the person being ignored, so naturally Hyeongseob took it upon himself to tag along on their dates and thump their arms each time they addressed one another. Hyunmin had been disappointed to discover that Hweseung was reclassified to stage three before himself so Hyunmin had decided to create a stage four-point-five which involved punching Hyeongseob’s arm whenever he opened his mouth. Hyunmin was swiftly reclassified to a stage two case after that.

Ordinarily the scale was invoked on a weekly basis but everything above level four was arbitrary and existed for the sake of Hyeongseob’s dramatics. Hyunmin hadn't imagined that somebody confessing to him would upset Hyeongseob so much.

“Hyung,” Hyunmin whined pathetically, “It is serious. I was at level six for a week! Hyeongseob kept sending his condolences to my family! He even told Sunghyuk that I was at stage seven for a day!”

Hweseung’s reaction wasn't as sympathetic as Hyunmin would have liked, so he clarified, “Stage seven is the worst one! I think he really did delete some of the selfies we took together! He even changed his Instagram password so I can’t log onto his account!”

Hweseung gasped dramatically before patting Hyunmin on the head and using a baby voice to pretend to comfort him. Hyunmin vaguely wondered if this was what Hweseung was referring to when he went on about Hyunmin being too young for him.

Hyunmin wished he could feel offended by how Hweseung called him a cute kid, but he craved compliments and physical contact. He wished he could crave physical contact with his ex-boyfriend a little bit less when he noticed Hong Eunki walk into the café.

Hyunmin pulled away from Hweseung’s touch quickly enough to be asked if he was alright. Hyunmin was alright. He was fine. But he was also fickle and stupid. He nodded and tried to smile at Hweseung, but he obviously wasn't convincing as a person who was fine because Hweseung attempted to feed him cake. Hyunmin absolutely did not open his mouth and he rapidly shook his head. Maybe if the pair of them had been a better couple as boyfriends, Hweseung would be quicker to recognise when Hyunmin was trying to covertly tell him something.

“Eunki-hyung!” Hyunmin shouted for some inexplicable reason. At least Hweseung was part way to realising why Hyunmin was acting strangely - though the mischievous expression that settled on his face was unsettling - but as a result of Hyunmin being strange and stupid, Hong Eunki had changed his course and was walking over to their table in all of his graceful beauty.

“Hyunmin, it is good to see you,” Eunki said, smiling broadly and hugging Hyunmin tightly when he stood to greet him. Eunki’s smile clouded slightly when his eyes fell on Hweseung. “Ah, hello.”

Hweseung still hadn't shaken the suspicious edge to his smile and Hyunmin wished that this wasn't happening.

Truthfully, Hyunmin had decided to confess to Hweseung after lying to all of his friends and announcing that he was going to give up on getting noticed by his next-door neighbour. After years of chasing a person who was always several steps out of his league, Hyunmin had hoped that his blossoming development into a man who could make dozens of people swoon just by doing a high-kick would put him on Eunki’s radar. That was not the case, and Hyunmin even showcasing how cute and desirable he was with his string of boyfriends and girlfriends who had all fallen for his taekwondo talents was not enough to get Eunki to show the slightest bit of interest.

Eunki was polite and wonderful and devastatingly good looking every time he had to greet Hyunmin’s next fan-cum-significant other when they ‘awkwardly and entirely accidentally’ bumped into each other. It was heartbreaking and Hyunmin had tried to at least pretend to move on at the behest of Hyeongseob who was apparently sick of Hyunmin’s constant bleating about how Eunki insisted on using an old childhood nickname and not even having the decency to ask Hyunmin on a date.

Hyunmin was on a date - sort of - right now and he couldn't help but imagine that the plasticity of Eunki’s smile was because he wished that it was with him.

“Hyung, what are you doing today?” Hyunmin asked.

“Oh, I am just getting a drink before meeting up with some friends, ” Eunki said. There was a strange flicker of his eyes towards Hweseung as he said, “You know Insoo-hyung and Kenta-hyung.”

Hweseung was smirking at this point but Hyunmin chose to very maturely ignore that.

“So you’re busy? It is a shame that you can't sit with us for a bit.”

Eunki’s smile shrank. “While you are on a date?”

“This isn't a date,” Hyunmin said quickly.

“That's funny. I was your boyfriend when we were standing at the counter,” Hweseung mused. It was almost as though he meant to say that under his breath but the fact was that he said it very loudly. There was no longer a trace of a smile on Eunki’s face and as Hyunmin whipped around to make sure Woojin hadn't somehow heard, Hweseung chuckled.

“Hyung!” Hyunmin whined.

“I will see you later Hyunmin. It was nice to see you, Hweseung-hyung,” Eunki said. He walked out without even going to buy a drink and Hyunmin deflated in his seat.

This had been awkward and entirely accidental and Hyunmin hated everything about it.

 

***

 

Kang Mina, another of Hyunmin’s friends who used to proudly parade him around as their boyfriend before getting bored of him whining about Eunki, was incredibly beautiful. In fact, Hyunmin believed she had become even more beautiful since she dumped him. Hyunmin supposed that he didn't mind very much because he could take credit for sort of being the reason she had blossomed so prettily. A lot of people were under the impression that she only became this pretty when she declared that she never wanted to touch another man in her life, but Hyunmin was a man who she had touched a lot before making the announcement and that was enough to take credit.

Hyunmin was listening to Mina read out treacherous Hyeongseob’s blog posts which outlined this while he was busy staring out of the window. He had better things to do than pay attention to Mina grumble about Hyunmin having a big head.

Hong Eunki was sunbathing in his back garden with his friends.

“Are you listening to me, Byun Hyunmin?” Mina asked.

“Absolutely not,” Hyunmin said. Hearing Hyeongseob’s brand of nonsense was all the more painful as it served as a reminder that they had fallen out with each other. Hyunmin only tolerated that sort of racket when it came straight from Hyeongseob’s mouth.

“Why do you and Ahn Hyeongseob have such extensive opinions about me liking women?” Mina sighed, exasperated. She must have known that Hyunmin wasn't really listening to her. Usually Hyunmin had plenty of time for Mina’s brand of nonsense, but that was when he wasn't observing the wonders of nature such as Eunki stripping off his T-shirt and getting his friends to rub sunblock on his back.

“It isn't about you liking women,” Hyunmin muttered. Mina hadn't mentioned it at the time but there were quite a few signs that indicated her love of women even when she was being quite demonstrative about her love for Hyunmin. He tore his eyes away from the sun soaked view outside his window and added, “It is about you hating men.”

“I don't hate men.”

“I have never heard you say a single positive thing about a man.”

“I said nice things about you all the time when we were going out,” Mina retorted. She really had herself convinced of that. It was quite sad. Hyunmin shook his head as he mourned the principles of virtue and honesty.

“You only said those things because you wanted a piece of this,” Hyunmin said, very sobrely as he gestured to ‘this’. The rippling muscles of his perfect physique, doused in the 24 carat sunshine of years of taekwondo training camps that was desired by all. Hyunmin was known by people in all departments of the university because of his brilliant body and superb skills. Even someone who hated men as vocally as Kang Mina couldn't deny the unfortunate part of her brain which found men (mostly Hyunmin) attractive. Everyone wanted a piece of Byun Hyunmin.

Eunki didn't seem to want a piece of Hyunmin. Maybe it was because he wasn't a student at their university and hadn't heard about how the Byun Bug was taking over and infecting the student body with symptoms such as spontaneous confessions and feverish desperation to get noticed by Hyunmin. But Hyunmin had been propositioned by plenty of people who weren't enrolled at their university, which meant Eunki must simply have been immune. His inoculations must have taken place at some point when Hyunmin was an infant, stuffing his face with actual bugs because he thought it might look cool to other kids at the playground.

Eunki didn't want a piece of Hyunmin but he was making it very difficult for Hyunmin to not want a piece of him.

“Eunki-hyung is sunbathing, Mina,” Hyunmin groaned, just in case she wasn't aware.

“I couldn't care less,” Mina said. She sounded genuinely absorbed in her own ennui and Hyunmin couldn't believe he spent so much time with a person like this.

“You really do hate men! If you didn't hate men you wouldn't be able to stop yourself from ogling Eunki-hyung while he is frolicking half-naked with his friends!”

Mina looked up from her phone and fixed Hyunmin with an unimpressed glare.

“Hyunmin, that is the worst stretch of logic I have ever heard. Anyway, if I was over there ogling the man who won't look twice at you, wouldn't I be competition? Surely me resisting the siren call of your next door neighbour only proves that I value our friendship more than eye candy, ergo I don't hate you or all men.”

Hyunmin turned back to face the window. Mina had a point. Eunki was eye candy. He should have been hoping that as few people as possible saw the beauty that was Eunki’s lats and delts as he stretched his arms into the air. Every time Eunki walked down the street there must have been another heart captured by him. It simply wasn't fair. While Eunki was single and available he shouldn't be unleashed on the world and breaking hearts. He could do that when he was Hyunmin’s boyfriend and his pristine sense of fidelity would have him laughing in the faces of anyone who dared try it on with half of Korea’s greatest power couple Eunmin. Or Hyunki. Or something else. Hyunmin was still working on the name.

The point was, Korea’s greatest power couple might never come to fruition if Eunki was out there giving every Kim, Lee, and Park the chance to steal his heart away.

There was only one thing for it. Hyunmin had to get down on his hands and knees and beg for help.

“O, Kang Mina who hates men more than anything else in the world,” Hyunmin began. Mina immediately interrupted because she was rude.

“If I hated men I would never spend time with you because all you do is talk about men.”

“Mina! Just help me! How do I get Eunki to be my boyfriend?”

Switching from the more dignified begging of a pauper to his queen to the shameless whining of a giant baby wasn't a conscious decision. If Hyunmin was capable of making conscious decisions he likely would not have asked for Mina’s help in the first place. If Hyunmin was smarter he wouldn't be stupid enough to need to ask for Mina’s infinite wisdom. He also wouldn't have had to discover that she was just as stupid as he was.

Her eyes were clear and glittery, as though to highlight the clarity of her conscience as she suggested, “Why don't you confess to him?”

 

***

 

Apparently the wonderful and wise Yoo Hweseung was equally as stupid as Mina (and probably Hyunmin too) because he agreed.

Hyunmin didn't doll himself up by stealing too much of his brother's cologne to be told that Kang Mina was right. He pretended not to have heard and set about stirring his bowl of jjampong so he could go through the motions of being distracted.

It was sort of nice that Hweseung was so cool about Hyunmin pursuing someone else - Hyunmin should have thought of it as a testament to the fact they worked as friends better than lovers, but he was still a bit hurt by it. Plenty of people wanted to be with Hyunmin, but never the people Hyunmin wanted to be with.

“When are you going to do it?” Hweseung asked. Hyunmin looked up slowly. Hweseung looked genuinely interested.

“Do what?”

“Confess. When are you going to confess?” Hweseung asked impatiently.

“Never. I am going to become a monk and dedicate myself more thoroughly to studying the physical arts.”

“What, you're going to become a taekwondo monk? That sounds cool.”

“It is cool, isn’t it,” Hyunmin agreed proudly. There was no way Hyunmin could run out of cool and impressive things to do. There was no end to Hyunmin’s capabilities.

“It isn’t as cool as confessing,” Hweseung said, the traitor.

“I like you,” Hyunmin grumbled. “There. Are you happy now?”

“If that’s what you think a confession is then no wonder Eunki hasn’t taken notice of you,” Hweseung scoffed. Hyunmin thought that was quite rude of Hweseung to say. Confessing was a big and scary thing that took a lot more courage than Hyunmin was inclined to expend. Hyunmin liked to save his courage for easy things like defying gravity and not breaking his neck.

“How do you think I should confess?” Hyunmin asked. If Hweseung was so full of courage and good ideas then he should have something useful to say.

Hweseung looked thoughtful for a moment. The moment passed and he was still shovelling fried octopus into his mouth and Hyunmin was growing impatient.

“Hyung, I really came here to ask for your help,” Hyunmin whined. Hweseung patted Hyunmin on the head and curled his hand around Hyunmin’s ear slowly. Hyunmin wanted to push into the touch and sag into Hweseung’s side and be enveloped in the certainty of his arms, but Hyunmin had seen that unassuming expression enough times to know that he was being played with.

“I have liked you for a while now. All along I have tried to distract myself from the fear that perhaps you didn’t see me as a man. I tried going on dates and I even had a few relationships but they never lasted long. It was cruel of me to use other people like that when they had approached me with honest feelings. They all realised that they didn’t want to compete with the place you held in my heart. I was hoping that you would be receptive to letting me love you completely.”

Hyunmin wasn’t sure whether it was the soft tone of Hweseung’s voice, low and soothing as it settled right into Hyunmin’s bones even over the C-pop songs piping through the restaurant speakers, or the words themselves, but Hyunmin had lost his appetite. He wished that somebody could confess to him so sweetly. Hyunmin felt himself falling even though he knew it wasn’t real.

It wasn’t fair that Hyunmin was like this. Sure, he had been blessed with an abundance of adorable charms and the aptitude for anything physical, but he would have traded either of those things to not be so quick to fall for someone - or he would trade a quality to be able to fall out of love with someone quicker.

Hweseung belched and took a swig of his drink before he said, “Shall I write that down for you?”

“If you want to, Hyung, but I don't think I could ever say it.”

Hweseung’s eyebrows shot up and he gasped dramatically. “Where is the shameless Byun Hyunmin that we love so much?”

“He’s here somewhere,” Hyunmin muttered. He flinched at the hand that squeezed his thigh gently. Hweseung’s face was kind, but Hyunmin didn't feel particularly reassured by it.

Hyunmin wanted to go home and not have to think about how many people were so far from his reach. Hweseung was far away enough to be this encouraging about Hyunmin wanting to pursue Eunki, and Eunki was far away enough that Hyunmin didn't have a chance of becoming his boyfriend. That was all Hyunmin wanted. If even Hyeongseob or Mina had deemed Hyunmin good enough actually sustain a romance with, it is possible that he might have fallen out of the daydreams which defined his adolescence for something substantial.

Instead of people liking Hyunmin even more once they got to know him, they tended to realise that they liked the idea of him more. They could take him as a friend but anything else was unmanageable.

Slowly, he threaded his fingers through Hyunmin’s. Hyunmin closed his eyes but Hweseung was still holding his hand. Hyunmin couldn't forget what he wanted it to mean.

“Eunki might need you be a bit shameless,” Hweseung said. Hyunmin frowned at Hweseung but he had to quickly look away from the smile that was returned to him. “You have known each other for a very long time now and he might not be considering you romantically because of that. Even if you flirt with him it should be enough for him to realise that there are other options for the two of you.”

“That doesn't make me feel any better,” Hyunmin said. he definitely wanted to go home now.

“Why?” Hweseung grinned, still clutching Hyunmin’s hand.

“I _have_ been flirting with him.”

Hweseung shook his head.

“Obviously it hasn’t been working, otherwise he would be your boyfriend by now,” He said. “You need to be more direct. And you need to spend a substantial amount of time with him. I don’t think Eunki is ever going to realise that you like him based on you bumping into him and fluttering your eyelashes at him.”

Hyunmin didn’t have too many other options. It would be too strange to turn up at Eunki’s house with some food his mum always made too much of just so that he could try to flirt with him. Hyunmin wouldn’t go that far just to feel embarrassed when Eunki said something about being happy for a visit from his little piggy. There wasn’t much that Hyunmin could do (and maintain a semblance of dignity) aside from appearing before Eunki with a person who was ready to highlight Hyunmin’s good points and make Eunki realise how silly he was for not swooning into Hyunmin’s expectant embrace.

“What am I supposed to do?” Hyunmin asked.

“You need to let him know that you want him,” Hweseung said. As though it was that easy.  

 

***

 

Hyeongseob was nothing if not a method actor. He was such a good actor that  Hyunmin was almost entirely convinced that their friendship had been completely repaired with minimal effort.

“You look cute,” Hyunmin said as he pulled away from the arms Hyeongseob had thrown around him. Hyeongseob, not looking particularly cute in a T-shirt and long shorts which were too big for him, smiled quite prettily as though he didn’t hate Hyunmin at all.

“You don’t,” Hyeongseob said.

“Seob, you’re supposed to - ugh!” Hyunmin doubled over but the pain from the punch to his stomach didn’t abate. His eyes were watering and he was glad that even though they weren’t on the best terms, Ahn Hyeongseob was swimming into vision, dripping with concern, at Hyunmin’s deathbed.

“Kang Mina! Why did you do that to my Hyunminnie?” Hyeongseob wailed as he cradled Hyunmin’s expiring form to his chest.

“Why did I do what to who?” Mina asked, voice innocent even though she was puffing a bit from sprinting over just to punch Hyunmin in the gut.

“Why did you hit me? Seobbie is crying!” Hyunmin wheezed. Mina crouched down and locked her eyes with Hyunmin’s as she thumped Hyunmin’s arm twice.

“What is happening?” Hyeongseob asked. Mina thumped him too. “Stop it!”

Mina pointed at Hyungseob and said, “Level four.” She shifted her finger to jab Hyunmin in the nose and said, “Level four-point-five.”

Hyunmin should have known that he was being ignored. In fact, he remembered Mina giving him notice of his sentence before she left his house the other day. Hyunmin assumed he was always hovering around level one because Mina was always scoffing at things he said and making snide remarks about him, but he had never thought Mina would actually implement the stages like this.

“Hyeongseob just said my name, shouldn’t you have punched him too?” Hyunmin asked. Betrayal settled over Hyeongseob’s face, but they were already on rocky ground so Hyunmin didn’t mind too much. Until Mina punched him again. Twice.

“Didn’t you two invent this system?” She asked. “How come you don’t understand it? Four-point-five means I punch you everytime you talk. Just you. Four means I punch anyone who mentions you.”

“Why are we being ignored?” Hyeongseob asked. He flinched despite Mina’s explanation. Hyunmin flinched too, but only because he had expected to be mentioned by name to justify yet another vicious attack.

Mina said nothing and stood up as she waved into the distance.

“What are you doing now?” Hyeongseob asked. He was ignored of course. “If Hyunmin asks a question, will you answer him after punching him?”

“I wonder,” Mina said quietly.

Hyeongseob prodded Hyunmin’s cheek and said, “You try it.”

“I already know it is because of your - ow - blog,” Hyunmin said. He rubbed at his arm and when he tried to turn pitiful puppy-dog eyes on Mina he saw that she had a friend. “Yeonjung, when did - ow - you get here? Ow!”

“I didn’t know you would be here,” Yeonjung said in lieu of a reply. She didn’t put much effort in her fake cough before she pouted at Mina. “I think I’m coming down with something. I need to go home right now.”

“If you leave I will put you at level five,” Mina threatened.

Yeonjung only stared blankly at Mina and said, “I don’t know what that means. Also I don’t care.”

“It means I will never speak to you again.”

“It doesn’t work as a threat when you use that stupid scale,” Yeonjung said. But she didn’t leave so she must have felt suitably threatened. She fiddled with the strap of her bag before asking, “When are Doyeon and Yoojung getting here?”

“Never. I didn’t invite them. Doyeon hates me,” Hyunmin said loudly. Mina seemed to be above using her hands because this time she kicked Hyunmin. “It’s true, she does! Once I saw her talking to Eunki-hyung and she was doing that annoying thing where she tucks her hair behind her ear.”

Mina sighed instead of kicking Hyunmin again. Hyunmin was glad to at least be this pitiful - enough so that Hyeongseob rocked him in his arms and reassured him with the kind of words that Hyunmin always wanted to hear.

Mina could claim all she wanted that Doyeon didn’t hate Hyunmin, his proof was the way she laughed brightly and tossed her hair over her shoulder like she was in an advert while staring up at Eunki with her huge, sparkling eyes which even Hyunmin struggled not to fall into when they were turned on him. If Doyeon didn’t hate Hyunmin, she wouldn’t do things like hug Eunki in public and delicately touch his arm and suggest they meet for coffee between dance classes.

Doyeon could even reiterate the claims that she didn’t hate Hyunmin herself. Hyunmin refused to believe it. Hyunmin would go to his grave before changing his mind - mostly because Doyeon’s arms were cutting off Hyunmin’s air-supply from the tightness of her hug.

“Doyeon, please let go of Hyunmin!”

“I will never let him go, Hyeongseob. Not until he accepts that I don’t hate him!” Doyeon yelled into Hyunmin’s ear. She was kind of cool because she didn’t even wince when Mina punched her. Mina was never known to hold back when it came to hitting people.

“Someone needs to stop,” Yeonjung muttered. “The receptionist inside is staring at us. I don’t think we’ll ever get to go swimming.”

“They’ll hardly get security to keep us out,” Mina scoffed. “We’re just a bunch of innocent girls.”

“You seem like a gang leader at the moment Mina,” Yoojung said. She was standing quite a distance away and checking her phone so she could pretend not to be part of the group. She had hissed at Yeonjung and told her to go away in very unkind words when Yeonjung tried to copy. She had no intention of associating with the rest of them, which was a shame because Hyunmin had hoped for some assistance from the only person who could save him from Doyeon’s death-grip. “All you have done since I have arrived is punch people.”

“Doyeon, please stop choking Hyunmin! He is going to die without ever getting kissed!” Hyeongseob screeched. His screeching only grew louder when Hyunmin flailed his legs with the last of the oxygen in his body.

Hyunmin had been kissed! By lots of people. Hyeongseob was one of the people who had kissed Hyunmin, so hearing him make such claims was preposterous. Even with the last pulses of his heart beating against his ear drums, Hyunmin could hear Yoojung quietly asking whether or not it was true.

Hyunmin wished he had passed out earlier so he wouldn’t have had to hear a man say, “Byun Hyunmin has never been kissed?”

Doyeon released Hyunmin’s throat enough for him to suck in air and survive the attack. Hyeongseob shoved at Doyeon’s shoulder and pulled Hyunmin to his chest but it was too late. The damage was already done! Lee Insoo was smirking and elbowing Eunki and wittering away about Hyunmin’s pure lips.

Hyunmin’s lips were pure! Pure wonder, pure beauty, pure perfection. Nothing to do with never being kissed. But Eunki was standing over Hyunmin with his friends and looking far too close to laughter.

“I’m sure someone will kiss my little piggy Minnie one day.”

 

Once inside the swimming centre changing rooms, Hyunmin got dressed at lightning speed. More quickly than he would be able to disarm a person. Not quickly enough to be the first one out. Yeonjung was leaning against the wall in a sparkly pink swimming costume, a towel wrapped around her waist, and wearing bright orange armbands which looked uncomfortable on her folded arms.

“Why are you out here?” Hyunmin asked. He looked around just in case Doyeon was hiding behind a huddle of children so she could jump out and try to kill Hyunmin again. “Where are the girls?”

“They’re still getting changed,” Yeonjung shrugged. She swiped her hair out of her face and frowned at Hyunmin. “You’re not going to laugh at me?”

“What for?” Hyunmin asked. Yeonjung rolled her eyes but the line of her shoulders relaxed. And she dropped her arms to her sides and fiddled with the swimming cap in her hands.

“I bet you’ll be flipping and kicking your way through the water, right?”

“I’ll help you if you want?” Hyunmin suggested. “I can teach you a bit too, if you can’t swim.”

Yeonjung shook her head. “You’ll be too busy crying because Eunki-oppa hasn’t proposed to you.”

She was right. Hyunmin sighed. “Before that, then. I’ll tie your hair up so that you can put your swimming cap on and keep it dry.”

“Are you just trying to make me look ugly so that I don’t steal your man? I’m not Doyeon. Nobody is looking at me.”

Hyunmin didn’t know what she meant by that. Plenty of people looked at Yeonjung. She was beautiful and had the contagious kind of laugh that made Hyunmin smile even when he was sure that she had fallen out with him over something. She was pretty enough that Hyunmin was often jealous of all the people whose hands she held and cheeks she pressed quick kisses to. It was never Hyunmin. It was usually Mina, unless Mina’s friend Sohye was around and she made do with whoever else she liked more than Hyunmin.

“I’m looking at you,” Hyunmin said quietly, because he often was. Yeonjung scoffed and passed a hair bobble to Hyunmin. She turned around and tossed her hair back. “Don’t tie it too tight. I don’t want even more of a headache.”

Yeonjung’s hair was soft and it slipped easily between Hyunmin’s fingers as he combed it into a bundle at the crown of her head. Hyunmin could faintly smell apples and he wondered whether it would be weird if he wanted a stronger waft of the smell.

“Do you have a headache now?” Hyunmin asked.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Your hair is very nice. Did it take you a long time to grow it?”

“It grew by itself,” Yeongjung chuckled.

“It smells of apples. The chlorine smell is going to ruin it,” Hyunmin said. “It would be a shame not be able to smell the apples before they got ruined.”

“What are you talking about?” Yeonjung asked. She waited until he had tied her hair into a ponytail and twisted the silky tail into a bun. She turned to face him again and her face looked even more graceful. Yeonjung could have been a ballerina, Hyunmin decided it was the truth in that very moment. She was graceful and beautiful and her face was scrunched up as she incredulously giggled, “Are you asking to smell my hair?”

“Maybe. Yes.”

“You’re strange,” Yeonjung said, her hand hovering over her smile. But she nodded. “Just once. Before anybody sees.”

There were people all around them, squealing and splashing around in the pool, but none of them were friends with Hyunmin or Yeonjung, so they probably didn’t matter. Hyunmin wanted to push his luck just a little bit more while he had the chance.

“Can I hug you too?”

Yeonjung’s smile fell. Hyunmin was more used to being looked at like this, like he was something dirty on the bottom of Yeonjung’s shoe. “You’re being too strange now.”

“Sorry.”

Yeonjung shook her head but mumbled at Hyunmin to hurry up as she opened her arms. Hyunmin had never known how nice it was to hug Yeonjung. She was really small ,but still comfortably squishy, and her arms were something that should be wrapped around Hyunmin more often - if she ever settled on liking Hyunmin more than she liked going to the dentist. And the scent of apples was wonderful! Hyunmin hadn’t quite got all of his enjoyment when someone coughed behind his head and Yeonjung jumped away from him.

“Byun Hyunmin?”

Hyunmin turned and wondered how Woojin had recognised him from the back of his head. And also why Woojin thought this was a good time to talk to him.

“Wow, Yeonjung, look, it’s Park Woojin!”

“Shut up, I don’t know you!” Yeonjung said as she backed away and tried to hold her arms behind herself.

“Are you on another date?” Woojin asked. Hyunmin’s chest hurt. It was kind of cute, kind of sad, how Woojin could ask the question with careful emphasis like he was trying to sharpen his S’s and be completely understood. “Did things not work out well with your ex-boyfriend?”

The look Yeonjung gave him (Hyunmin could feel it making the hairs on the back of his neck stand erect, terrified) was more of what Hyunmin was used to from her and he would have to dig deep to remember what it was like to be treated kindly by her. He had the very distinct sense that saying the wrong thing here could be fatal so he played it safe.

“This isn’t a date,” Hyunmin said confidently. “Things are going fine with my ex. We’re getting back together any day now. Anyway, I’d better go now. Bye Woojin.”

Hyunmin grabbed Yeonjung’s wrist and hoped Woojin would get the message and not follow.

“You had better have been talking about Eunki-oppa,” Yeonjung hissed.

“What?”

“Your ex?”

“Oh, that?” Hyunmin said when he finally stopped. His feet were slippy from walking through the chemical bath as he exited the changing room and one of the lifeguards was giving him a stern glare. “No. Eunki-hyung is just the love of my life. My ex is somebody else.”

“You have some issues,” Yeonjung muttered.

It was true. The main issue was that Eunki wasn’t Hyunmin’s boyfriend. But Hyunmin doubted that Yeonjung cared too much about that now. She was back to normal and was pulling her floral swimming cap over the very neat bun Hyunmin had expertly made in her hair. The scent of apples was no longer sprouting from her scalp and her arms weren’t reluctantly welcoming Hyunmin into them.

That was fine, he could see Hyeongseob near the changing rooms craning his neck and wincing away from the hoards of children who were running past him. The lifeguard wasn’t doing a good job of enforcing the ‘no running’ rule. It would be much easier for the lifeguards and Hyunmin alike if there weren’t any children around.

Hyunmin had to wonder whether Hweseung was setting him up. He asked Hyungseob as soon as he had made his way over.

“Did you see me almost fall in the pool?” Hyeongseob whined as he clutched Hyunmin’s arm.

“It was quite funny,” Yeonjung confirmed.

“Forget that. Why did we come here? How am I supposed to flirt with Eunki-hyung with all of these kids around?”

“I think that’s reason enough to not do that,” Yeonjung muttered.

“You’re flirting with him? Where is he?” Hyeongseob asked. His eyebrow was arched dangerously and Hyunmin had to pull him away from Yeonjung for a moment and smiled at her to keep her at bay.

“I need to hurry up and flirt with him before I fall in love with Yeonjung,” Hyunmin whispered. “If I don’t get a kiss soon, I will fall in love with Yeonjung and forget my neighbour’s name.”

“Your neighbour’s name is Hong Eunki. _Oink~!_ ”

Hyunmin kept his eyes trained on Hyeongseob and hoped that the reflection in his cartoonishly wide eyes would reveal something other than the form of Hong Eunki standing behind him. Hyunmin couldn’t make much out in the sparkling irises so he had no choice but to look over his shoulder at every dream and nightmare he’d had grinning at him.

It was difficult not to confess his eternal love right then and there and he was glad of Doyeon carrying Mina on her shoulders and racing Insoo who was carrying Kenta on his back. The lifeguard stuttering admonishments was distraction enough from Eunki pushing his hair back from his face and smiling with glittering white teeth. Hyunmin wasn’t the only one struggling to string words together in the face of ethereal beauty. But they were allowed to swim when the lifeguard gave up on trying to speak.   

Hyunmin did a few laps of the pool to try and engage his rippling muscles. When he thought his body was warmed up enough, and his skin was covered in a sexy sprinkling of water, he pulled himself out of the pool to sit next to Eunki.

“Are you taking a break, Hyung?”

Eunki smiled slowly, the expression lighting up with each muscle that pulled to scrunch up his eyes and his nose and show off his sparkling white teeth. He pushed his hair out of his face, barely damp but Hyunmin had better things to do than think about why Eunki hadn’t been in the pool when his chest was sparking with the pain of holding himself back from climbing into Eunki’s lap.

“Hyunminnie! You’ve come to sit with me?” Eunki asked, still smiling and knocking his knee into Hyunmin’s - oh god, his bare skin touching Hyunmin’s!

“Your legs aren’t as hairy as mine,” Hyunmin said quietly. The voices of people in the pool echoed too much and hopefully Eunki hadn’t heard. No such luck. Eunki grinned.

“Is it a competition?”

“Do you want it to be?” Hyunmin asked. Eunki laughed and swatted at Hyunmin’s thigh.

“But I’ve already lost. Why not have a competition that I can win? Can you think of anything that I could win, Minnie?”

Apart from his heart, Hyunmin struggled to think of anything that he could actually say. Unless telling Eunki that he won Hyunmin’s heart would seal the deal and end all of this suffering. But Hyunmin’s mouth wouldn’t let him say that. He smiled.

“You’re good at lots of things, Hyung. You’re really pretty.”

“I’m pretty?” Eunki asked. He didn’t look particularly embarrassed, but he was smiling and tilting his head. He looked even prettier like this.

“You’re really pretty, Hyung. You’re funny too.”

Eunki’s eyebrows rose on his forehead and his lower lip jutted out. He tilted his head the other way and narrowed his eyes at Hyunmin.

“I’m funny? When do I make you laugh?”

That was a tough one. Hyunmin wasn’t sure that Eunki made him laugh with jokes or anything. Hyunmin found himself smiling a lot whenever he saw Eunki, and thought about Eunki, and talked about Eunki, so rather than laughing he smiled. He just liked Eunki and was thinking of nice things to say that weren’t the words “I love you” or anything similar.

“See, I can’t be that funny if you can’t think of anything,” Eunki said. He sounded a bit sad, as though he was hoping Hyunmin could have at least invented some occasion for Eunki’s ego if anything.

“You are funny, I promise,” Hyunmin said.

“When you regularly meet someone like Hweseung-hyung I am sure it is difficult to find other people funny,” Eunki said, looking out over the pool. Hyunmin had worried about trying to flirt with Eunki when there were children around, but the potential audience wasn’t that much of an issue. Hyunmin was perfectly fine on his own at flirting badly. He should have practiced more before he came. Now he had made Eunki sad and for some reason they were talking about Hweseung.

“I find other people funny all the time,” Hyunmin said sincerely. Eunki nodded but he looked like he was suddenly suffering from toothache, so Hyunmin suspected that his words hadn't been believed. “It's true, Hyung. Hweseung-hyung is funny, but that's different.”

“Because you like him,” Eunki supplied. It sounded as though he was trying to be jovial about it but the words hadn't filled Hyunmin with cheer. Hyunmin liked Eunki too. Eunki was different too, because Hyunmin liked him most of all, but it wasn't something he was able to say. He had wanted to tell Eunki that he liked him, but sitting beside Eunki who was trying to smile about Hyunmin liking someone else was scary.

The dryness of Hyunmin’s mouth was making his tongue stick to the roof of his mouth. He would never be able to say the words to Eunki like this. It would be better if Eunki could just realise how things were and be brave on Hyunmin’s behalf.

And for a moment it seemed that the epiphany Hyunmin hoped for had finally arrived.

“I wish you wouldn't be so attached to that hyung,” Eunki said.

“Why?” Hyunmin asked.

“He isn't the person you think he is,” Eunki said.

“Hyung? What do you mean?” Hyunmin pressed. He didn’t like the ice of Eunki’s tone and he didn’t like the pity in Eunki’s eyes either. This was jarring and Hyunmin wished that they had never started talking about Hweseung. He wasn’t important right now, but talking about him had made Eunki strange and Hyunmin was desperate to know why. He needed to know that this was just something that he could make go away with a joke or an action as daring as a hug.

“I’m only telling you this because I care, Hyunmin,” Eunki said. He looked away from Hyunmin, gaze focused somewhere near Doyeon attempting to drown Hyeongseob while Yoojung and Insoo distracted the lifeguard.

“You’re making it sound like something bad,” Hyunmin said. He tried to smile but even he could hear the nervousness in his voice.

“It is,” Eunki confirmed. “He doesn’t love you.”

Hyunmin felt a lot less nervous. He already knew that much, even if he kept pushing for more, fluttering his eyelashes and silently begging for contact whenever they met. Eunki hadn’t needed to make it sound like something so terrible. It was a fact Hyunmin was unfortunately already living with. He was about to tell Eunki that he already knew that any feelings he had for Hweseung were unrequited (just the same as the ones he had for Eunki, but it seemed like the wrong time to mention that) when Eunki took a deep breath.

“He’s sleeping with other people.”

“What?”

The acoustics of the swimming pool weren’t suited to serious conversations like this, not with the squeals of children and swimmers churning the water amplified to the point that it was difficult for a person to hear their own thoughts. The environment wasn’t the best, but Hyunmin hadn’t been struggling to hear anything until now and he definitely wasn’t having difficulty hear Eunki repeat himself.

“Hweseung is sleeping around with other people, Hyunmin. I’m sorry.”

Hyunmin shouldn’t have been struggling to process the information. It didn’t matter. Hweseung was a grown man who could do what he wanted. Unfortunately for Hyunmin, it didn’t matter what Hweseung did nor did it matter who he did those things with.  

“It’s fine,” Hyunmin shrugged, finally able to talk.

Hyunmin had been hoping for something like a hug from Eunki, but not as a gesture of comfort or anything as disappointing as that. Hyunmin could hardly focus on how it must have felt to have Eunki pulling him closer and stroking his back.

It was a relief to feel another pair of arms snaking around him and another body at his back.

“What’s happening here?” Hyeongseob asked brightly, dripping water down the back of Hyunmin’s neck.

“It’s nothing,” Hyunmin said quickly. His voice sounded thick and when he dragged himself away from Eunki’s embrace, Hyeongseob was frowning deeply. He shoved roughly at Hyunmin’s shoulder and Eunki said something that Hyunmin couldn’t hear over the sounds of splashing and Hyeongseob’s, “What’s the matter?”

“It’s nothing,” Hyunmin said again. “Hyung, could we have a minute?”

Eunki looked unsure but he squeezed Hyunmin’s shoulder and offered an apology as though he had anything to apologise for.

“Did I come at a bad time?”

“No. You came at the best possible time. Now you have to convince me to not go home right now,” Hyunmin sniffed.

“We're probably all going home soon. Did you not see Doyeon almost kill me? She hates both of us, Hyunmin,” Hyeongseob whined. Hyunmin should have laughed. Hyeongseob frowned at the lack of response and shook Hyunmin’s shoulder. “Hyunmin, what's the matter?”

Hyunmin shrugged but there was no point in keeping it to himself. “Hweseung-hyung is sleeping with other people.”

Hyeongseob was a fraction slow with his reaction, and Hyunmin wished Sunghyuk or Haknyeon were here instead. They had always been better at sympathy even though Hyeongseob made a good show of it with pouts and cuddles.

Hyunmin sighed and slid away across the plastic bench, but Hyeongseob quickly followed and secured his possession of Hyunmin with the tight circle of his arms.

“Sorry, but is it a bad thing?”

“He's _sleeping_ with other people,” Hyunmin said in case Hyeongseob had simply misheard and was ready to show proper understanding for the issue.

“You're not together.”

“We could be if he stopped being annoying about the age thing,” Hyunmin pointed out. The consensus was that Hyunmin’s age was the only factor that prevented a relationship, but it was only four years and they were both adults. Hweseung was only two years ahead at university, so that already halved the distance between them. It shouldn't be an issue.

“But you like Eunki-hyung,” Hyeongseob frowned. “You have been asking Hweseung-hyung for advice about getting together with someone else.”

“I have, but Hweseung is still an option too. I could go crying into his arms about being rejected by Eunki-hyung and we could get back together. But instead he is sleeping with other people.”

“Hyunmin, you know I love you, and I am always on your side, but I don't really see why this is something to be upset about.” Hyeongseob’s voice was wary but he was still clutching onto Hyunmin. He didn't understand, but Hyunmin supposed he could be thankful for whatever comfort Hyeongseob could provide. At least he could until Hyeongseob added, “You've literally had multiple girlfriends and boyfriends since you broke up with Hweseung-hyung. _Mina_ has been your girlfriend since then.”

Hyeongseob was not technically wrong. Hyunmin had been out with a few people since he had been dumped, but they didn't count as relationships because they were barely a couple of weeks in length. Mina was the exception because she had put up with Hyunmin for longer than the others put together and they had time to fall out and become friends. But none of that negated Hyunmin’s feelings.

“You're on level three,” Hyunmin declared. Hyeongseob shrugged and Hyunmin wondered whether it was pretence or genuine blitheness. “The others don't matter, Hyeongseob - I mean ‘Worst Friend’ - because only Mina stayed with me longer than two weeks. Besides, what is so special about these other people that Hweseung-hyung could have sex with them? When we were going out he only kissed me once and I'm quite sure it was an accident!”

Instead of responding in any way Hyunmin would have expected (or hoped for such as sympathy and understanding), Hyeongseob pressed a kiss to Hyunmin’s cheek and rested his head on Hyunmin’s shoulder. “Kisses are never accidents, Hyunmin. I'm sure Hweseung-hyung did love you. Okay? You're the most special person in the whole wide world.”

“Thank you, Worst Friend, you're the most amazing person in the whole wide world,” Hyunmin said. He didn't really feel better about the bad news he received, but he knew that this was the best he was going to get from Hyeongseob. He didn't mind it because he loved Hyeongseob and he could call Sunghyuk when he got home. Sunghyuk always knew to agree with Hyunmin, so the sympathy he craved would come soon.

For now, Hyeongseob squeezed Hyunmin’s waist happily and lifted his head up to smile. “You're special and I'm amazing. You should kiss me!”

It was faultless logic and Hyunmin wholeheartedly agreed with it. It was just a quick kiss, barely a peck on the lips, and Hyeongseob grinned happily. “Do you feel better now? You don't need to worry about what other people are doing, Hyunmin!”

Hyunmin didn't need to worry too much about what other people were doing (he was still worrying a lot about Hweseung sleeping with other people but he was pretending otherwise for Hyeongseob’s benefit) aside from the person who punched Hyunmin’s arm hard enough that Hyeongseob yelped at the recoil.

“What was that for?” Hyeongseob whined.

“Oh,” Mina said, “I've done it wrong.”

Hyunmin could have pointed out that Mina had never properly implemented the ignoring scale, but elected not to waste his words on extra punches when he could cut right to the chase.

“Where did you come from? I thought you were teaching Yeonjung how to swim.”

Mina looked unsure about herself as she punched Hyunmin but it still felt like enough to bruise.

“Kenta-oppa is kind of cool,” Mina said. “He took over because I nearly made Yeonjung cry.”

“Why did you do that?” Hyunmin exclaimed. He didn't care about getting that punch. He felt manly and brave for attempting to defend Yeonjung’s honour.

“Did you already fall in love with her, Hyunmin?” Hyeongseob asked. Hyunmin was less happy to receive that punch but it couldn't be helped (or maybe it could have been as Hyunmin wasn’t sure of the rules anymore).

Hyunmin was right about to thank Hyeongseob for being the worst best friend ever and causing him so much injury when his eyes landed on Park Woojin. Hyunmin’s tongue shrivelled in his mouth and he hoped to not have to confront the situation while Mina sneered about how Yeonjung could do better than Byun Hyunmin and his perfect body. But Hyunmin’s good points didn't quite extend to being lucky and he felt Hyeongseob stiffen as an indication of when he too noticed Woojin approaching. Hyeongseob furtively slid his arms away from Hyunmin but it was too late by that point.

“Hello, Mina, Hyeongseob, Hyunmin,” Woojin said arbitrarily. He smiled in confusion as Mina awkwardly shuffled forwards and dropped a light punch on his shoulder. He returned the gesture and Mina looked mortified for some reason. She dropped down onto the bench beside Hyunmin and elbowed him in the ribs.

“Say something,” she hissed.

“You'll only punch me again,” Hyunmin retorted seconds before he was punched. He cleared his throat and said, “It is nice to see you, Woojin. It is a shame that you couldn't come out with us.”

“I wasn't invited,”  Woojin pointed out. “I am here with my sister and our cousins. They think they're mermaids.”

“That's really cute,” Hyeongseob said. Woojin shrugged and rubbed his nose.

“So, uh, how well are things going with your ex that you are kissing Ahn Hyeongseob?” Woojin asked. Mina looked down at her fist and Hyunmin hoped that she was about to honour stage four of the scale and punch Woojin properly.

“You saw us kissing?” Hyeongseob asked.

“Friends kiss all the time,” Hyunmin said, “It doesn’t mean anything. We’re just very friendly and close.”

He leaned closer to Mina to demonstrate that it was something he could do with anybody but she pushed her hand into his face and hissed that not a single selfie of them would exist if he tried to kiss her. Hyunmin wished he had been ambushed while with any of his other friends who were receptive to being kissed. He didn’t need Mina’s androphobia when trying to fix things. Hyeongseob was trembling beside Hyunmin and Hyunmin could slowly feel his soul leaving his body.

“You two used to be involved, didn’t you?” Woojin said as he looked at the three of them. Hyunmin wasn’t sure who the ‘you’ was specifically aimed at, but before he could attempt to whet the saline dryness of his mouth, Hyeongseob jumped in with, “How did you know? That was back in high school.”

“Everyone knows,” Woojin said. “I didn’t think it was to the extent that you still kiss. That’s quite strange, isn’t it.”

“It’s not strange, I kiss most of my friends,” Hyunmin said, glaring at Mina for extra emphasis. “It doesn’t mean that we like each other, or that Hyeongseob isn’t single. He is very single and he was one of the best boyfriends I ever had, just so you know.”

Woojin frowned. “Why does that matter?”

Hyeongseob exhaled noisily and swiped his hands across his face. “How odd. I think my allergies are acting up. I had better go. See you around, Mina, please tell the others that I’m sorry for having to leave early.”

Hyeongseob waddled away, stumbling into several people on his way back to the changing room. Hyunmin wilted. The only thing Hyeongseob was allergic to was having his feelings hurt. Mina punched Hyunmin’s arm, belatedly with no strength in it.

 

***

 

Hyunmin waited a few days before messaging Hweseung to let him know what he had learnt. He was trying to pretend that he didn’t care. He was glad to have the Hyeongseob problem to worry about as a distraction from the betrayal. He was more glad that it only took him a few days to be told he was no longer being ignored by Hyeongseob.

Hyeongseob had sniffed and kissed Hyunmin on the cheek as he whined about how Park Woojin didn’t care about his feelings. Hyunmin had squeezed Hyeongseob until he complained about his ribs hurting and planted a smacker square on his mouth and ignored Mina as she complained about feeling sick watching the two of them making up.

Mina was wrong - she was jaded and ignorant of the pure feelings of the friendship - when she claimed Hyunmin only wanted Hyeongseob’s input when crying about his own problems. Hyunmin had only wanted to properly ensure that Hyeongseob loved him again before concentrating on someone who definitely did not love him. But he wasn’t going to refuse Hyeongseob’s assistance when writing out the message.

 

 **Hyunmin** _:_ Hyung, is it true that you have been sleeping with other people?

 **Hweseung** : Does it matter?

 

“Hyunmin,” Hyeongseob said solemnly, “How can he respond like that? Isn’t he looking down on you and your feelings?”

These were different to Hyeongseob’s words at the swimming pool. For a moment Hyunmin worried that a facet of their friendship was blindly telling each other what they wanted to hear, regardless of how false or ill-advised it may have been. But he ignored that niggle in the back of his head (the one that sounded decidedly like Kang Mina) and hooked his chin over Hyeongseob’s shoulder to watch as he typed out a response.

 

 **Hyunmin** : Ah, Hyung, what are you trying to say? I just thought that because you are so involved with me and my problems that you might rely on me from time to time.

 **Hweseung** : I don’t need to rely on you, Minnie. It’s nothing important.

 **Hyunmin** : I hoped we were closer friends than that, Hyung >< Everything is important! I love you! But I will kick you!

 **Hweseung** : haha You should focus on your goals. Hong Eunki isn’t going to wait around for you to sort me out.

 

Hyunmin was being fobbed off, but he supposed it could have been worse. If he had tried to ask about it sooner after hearing the news, Hyunmin could only imagine things would have turned out badly.

Haknyeon seemed to agree, quietly and dispassionately, when he met Hyunmin after taekwondo practice. He shivered slightly and Hyunmin shed his jacket at slung it over Haknyeon’s shoulders.

“Why did you do that? You’ll catch a cold, especially as you’re still sweaty.”

“Doesn’t that mean my body is still warm?” Hyunmin asked. Haknyeon rolled his eyes but he didn’t give back the jacket. It proved that everyone thought to was cool to wear merchandise emblazoned with Hyunmin’s club’s logo. Hyunmin was happy with that and said, “Did you watch me well?”

“You were really cool. As usual,” Haknyeon confirmed as he knocked into Hyunmin’s side. “My heart fluttered. Is that what you want to hear?”

“It is exactly what I want to hear,” Hyunmin grinned. Haknyeon sighed and linked his arm with Hyunmin’s tightly.

Hyunmin didn't meet up with Haknyeon as often as he would have liked. Haknyeon was very sweet and eagerly responded to every invitation to watch Hyunmin’s taekwondo practice and tell him how cool and handsome he was. He had been much more shy of things like that when they were actually going out with each other and had contented himself with quietly seething whenever Hyeongseob or Sunghyuk invaded their dates, and being much less shy about being physically affectionate. Things were better like this now that they were just friends who went out to eat from time to time.

Haknyeon had as big an appetite as Hyunmin and their tastes were compatible so it was good to walk around in the evenings and try dozens of skewers of beef and and gorge themselves on rice cakes at the roadside while the stall owner admonished their messy habits. It was even better when Mina was there too.

“What are you doing here?” Hyunmin asked as he pulled her into a hug. She pushed his face away so he wiped his mouth on his sleeve and planted a kiss on her cheek. Mina was still cringing when Hyunmin pulled away and gratefully accepted the rice cakes that Haknyeon was holding out to her.

“Haknyeon snapchatted some of your practice so I came to grab some food with you.”

“How does that make sense,” Hyunmin asked, his words indistinct as he chewed. “You should have come to watch me practice too! Or were you worried that you might fall in love with me again?”

“There is no danger of that happening,” Mina said firmly. “Are we getting drinks too?”

“You want to drink too? You should have brought Yeonjung or Chaeyeon-seonbae, or at least my wallet so that I could have something too!” Hyunmin whined. Mina frowned.

“You're eating well enough here without your wallet,” she said.

“Haknyeon's treating me because he loves me.”

“Am I?” Haknyeon asked. “I bought meat earlier. I thought you were buying this.”

Haknyeon looked very confused and pouty so Hyunmin hugged him so that he knew how cute Hyunmin thought he was when he said, “You're so silly, Haknyeon. How could I buy anything when I don't have my wallet? Besides, I gave you my jacket so that deserves some sort of treat.”

“Take your stupid jacket back then,” Haknyeon grumbled as he slipped it off his shoulders. “I hope Eunki-hyung finds out how horrid you are.”

“That oppa must already know how horrid Hyunmin is, that's why Hyunmin is still single.”

“Take that back!” Hyunmin wailed. He was already doing badly enough in love without being jinxed by Kang Mina. It seemed that Mina really meant her words because she mimed zipping her lips and refused to say anything nice even as Haknyeon answered a call and shushed them both. When Haknyeon was done with the call, Hyunmin grumbled, “I hope Yeonjung rejects you when you ask her out.”

“Why would I ask her out?” Mina asked.

Hyunmin was confused by Mina’s bemusement but he didn't want to look obvious about it so he said, “Well whoever you are going ask out, I hope they reject you.”

“Hyunmin, I think you are the one who will get rejected,” Haknyeon frowned. “Why did you save Sunghyuk as ‘Ugly Boy’? He's cute.”

“That was Hyeongseob,” Hyunmin said flippantly. “Don't look at what he saved your name as.”

Hyunmin should have have given the warning after snatching back his phone but instead Haknyeon stepped out of reach and pulled his own phone out to call Hyunmin’s phone. Hyunmin waited nervously for the call to connect while Mina made a racket about how she was expecting to be recompensed for footing the bill here.

“Pig Bum!” Haknyeon exclaimed. “Does that mean that my bum is pig-like? Knowing Hyeongseob it is about my face, isn't it?”

“Does it matter?”

“It absolutely matters,” Mina said.

“Well I already know what I will change his name to,” Haknyeon muttered darkly. “Disproportionately Chubby Legs is going to regret messing with me.”

“That's not even that mean,” Mina noted as she linked arms with Haknyeon and set off. “I know that you have a thing for Jung Chaeyeon and you even told me you were hypnotised by _her_ disproportionately chubby legs.”

“Never mind that, what is Hyeongseob saved as in your phone? This thing is a mess.”

“Stop scrolling, it must be ‘The Most Perfect Man in the World’ if Hyeongseob was in charge of naming everyone,” Mina pointed out.

Hyunmin would happily have let Haknyeon and Mina meddle to their hearts’ content and swiftly categorised them as level 4.5 cases seeing as they were merrily arm in arm and had abandoned him, but he had to intervene. As irritating as he currently was, Park Woojin didn't deserve to be on the receiving end of Haknyeon's feeble form of pettiness.

“Don't change that one, it's Woojin. Hyeongseob is ‘Worst Friend’.”

“I refuse to believe Hyeongseob would call himself that,” Mina said flatly.

“I have to change Hyeongseob’s name myself. I had to rename him ‘My Love Who Has Departed From This World’ a few times and if I don't change it back myself when we make up he cries.”

Mina still didn't look as though she believed it but instead of that she chose to ask the reason behind Woojin’s name. She looked sad when Hyunmin told the tragic story of Hyeongseob’s pure and eternal love for Woojin. Hopefully the sympathy she felt for him would extend beyond the point she inevitably discovered that her contact name was ‘Arms That Have Only Brought Pain To This World’.

They ended up going to a shop and picking up a basket of booze, which confused Hyunmin because he assumed Mina had wanted to go to a bar or a pub to drink. Instead it seemed that the three of them would be drinking booze out of a bag as they hung around at a children’s play area or a street corner. That didn’t sound like something Hyunmin should admit to Jang Moonbok.

“Hyung, what are you doing here?” Hyunmin asked, his eyes fixed on the baby that was strapped to Moonbok’s chest. It didn’t look much like Moonbok but babies didn’t particularly look like anybody. Hyunmin was sure he would have heard about Moonbok having a baby.  

“Rowoonie wanted a walk,” Moonbok said as he rocked from side to side to make the baby smile. “Rowoonie, say hello to my friend Hyunmin. You should become big and strong like he is.”

Rowoon wasn’t interested in Hyunmin and stared up at Moonbok with sleepy eyes. Hyunmin hoped the baby was sleepy and the expression had nothing to do with the disappointment that he could feel radiating from the child. The baby perked up a bit when Mina and Haknyeon reappeared from behind shelves and carrying a heavy basket between them.

“Is this baby yours, Oppa?” Mina asked as she offered her finger to Rowoon.

“Sort of,” Moonbok smiled. “I am her nanny, but she is basically mine. She loves me, you know.”

“That's really cute,” Haknyeon said as he started pulling faces at Rowoon. “I want a baby.”

“Where are you going to get a baby from?” Mina asked.

“I don't know,” Haknyeon said sadly. “Hyunmin, I want a baby.”

“We're not even financially secure, how could we bring a child into the world?” Hyunmin asked. he didn't like how his voice had gone shrill and Moonbok looked worried for him.

“Hyunmin, I think the economy is the least of your worries. Where are you and Haknyeon going to get a baby from?”

“Wouldn't having a baby complicate things with Eunki-oppa?” Mina pointed out. That was true. It would be even harder to get Eunki into a relationship with a baby in the picture. Hyunmin was already struggling enough with trying to get Eunki interested in just him! But Haknyeon was pouting prettily and Hyunmin wanted to give Haknyeon the baby he wanted.

“Hyung, how much would I have to give you for the baby?”

Haknyeon's face brightened and Rowoon, who must have had her suspicions despite being a teeny tiny baby, recoiled. She turned questioning eyes up at Moonbok and Mina laughed at how grown up the baby was.

“It is alright, Rowoon,” Moonbok said, his voice alone soothing the baby. Moonbok looked up at Hyunmin and frowned. “I can't sell Rowoon to you. She is very precious to me and her parents! If you want a baby you then you should acquire one with your own means!”

“Hyung!” Haknyeon whined. “I can't get a baby with my own means. I’ve tried. Please let Hyunminnie buy your baby for me.”

“I will not.” Moonbok looked to be getting cross. “Do you think it is easy for me to get a baby? It isn't!”

“But, Hyung, you're so handsome,” Hyunmin said. “Surely you could find someone to make a new baby to replace that one.”

“Oppa, think of how sad Haknyeon would be if he doesn't have a baby!” Mina said. Moonbok looked appalled at Mina joining in with the torment.

“Ah, Mina, not you too,” Moonbok said sadly. Rowoon raised a chubby fist in the air and it heartened Moonbok some as he smiled down at her and stroked the silky blackness of her small patch of hair. “Why don't you make a baby with Haknyeon? I am sure you could work something out.”

“Over my dead body,” Mina intoned solemnly.

Rowoon wasn't happy with how serious Mina sounded, or she had grown tired of all this talk of black market baby trade, and started to whine. Moonbok cooed to her quickly and offered a finger for her to cling to with her tiny fists.

“Rowoonie is getting tired so I should return to put her to bed,” Moonbok said, constantly rocking to stave off the murmured moans of the baby. “I hope you kids don't get up to anything too strange. No buying babies from people. Haknyeonie, please wait until you are properly able to raise a child before asking our precious Hyunminnie to give you one.”

“I love you, Hyung!” Hyunmin grinned. Haknyeon was pouting even more sadly than before and despite Rowoon’s growing discomfort, Moonbok sighed.

“I will treat you kids today if you promise not to try to buy babies.”

Mina smiled and hugged Haknyeon to her side, telling him in no uncertain terms that he should cheer up sharpish. Moonbok stopped smiling himself when they reached the cashier and discovered that the basket was full of booze and little else.

He turned balefully to Mina and said, “You kids are terrible. You can't raise a baby if you plan on getting so drunk.”

“I'm not the one who wanted a baby,” Mina grumbled.

“You would have the most adorable babies though,” Haknyeon mused. He smiled and wrapped his arms around Mina and Hyunmin was surprised to see she didn't flinch away from the contact. “Mina, if you ever have children can you make a spare and give it to me? I want to squish its chubby cheeks and teach it to use its chubby arms to punch bad people.”

Mina didn't back away from Haknyeon but she frowned before elbowing him in the gut. “Joo Haknyeon, why are you mentioning chubby arms? Are you so ready to die?”

“You kids really need to make your minds up,” Moonbok said. He switched easily from exasperated to grateful as he accepted the carrier bags of booze that he had paid for from the cashier. He handed the bags to Hyunmin, who had nothing to do with the selection, and fished out the pack of dried anchovies he had been to the shop for in the first place. Rowoon sleepily reached for the packet and gnawed at a corner as she waited for Moonbok to say his goodbyes.

Haknyeon was busy trying to wriggle his way out of a headlock while trying to explain that he hadn’t been talking about Mina’s previously chubby arms, so it was up to Hyunmin and Mina to be polite and thank Moonbok for treating them for no reason.

Hyunmin liked Moonbok. Moonbok was generous and looked out for his friends and now he was even amazing with children. Hyunmin had never known that before. He hoped that something good would happen to Moonbok, but he wasn’t entirely confident with how much his hopes could do when all the thoughts he sent out to the universe about his own love life fizzled uselessly.

“We should all keep our fingers crossed that something amazing happens to Moonbok-hyung,” Hyunmin said. Mina and Haknyeon dutifully held up crossed fingers. It was nice that they were all on the same page about sending positivity to Moonbok, but Hyunmin wasn’t sure why they were all still walking to his house with bags of beer. Hyunmin didn't think they were quite on the same page there.

What made matters worse was that Mina and Haknyeon only bothered to help with the bags when they reached Hyunmin’s house. Hyunmin had absolutely not invited anyone over to his house and he was about to tell Mina and Haknyeon off for assuming the offer existed when he heard a bright voice chattering away in the living room. Sunghyuk had made himself very comfortable next to Hyunmin’s mum on the sofa as he excitedly told her how amazingly he played in a football match the week before. Yeonjung was even more comfortable, curled up in the space beside Sunghyuk and resting her feet in his lap while her eyes were glued to her phone. Hyunjun was lying on the floor and staring reverently up at Sunghyuk and Yeonjung as though they were the wonderful younger siblings he'd never had. Hyunjun’s very real and present younger sibling was unhappy with that.

“Who are these interlopers?” Hyunmin asked, outraged.

“Haknyeon, Mina, how wonderful to see you both!” Hyunmin’s mum exclaimed, ignoring Hyunmin completely. She patted Sunghyuk on the shoulder to pause his flow of gibberish and stood to draw the other self-appointed guests into her arms. “Did you watch my son well when he practiced this evening?”

“Yes,” Mina said solemnly, “He was very cool and, uh, masterful?”

“He practices so hard, doesn't he? I can't rely on him for much but if it is taekwondo we can count on him to do well,” Hyunmin’s mum said proudly. Hyunmin glowered as Yeonjung looked away from her phone long enough to roll her eyes and Mina badgered Hyunjun for the location of Hyunmin’s wallet.

“Why is everyone here?” Hyunmin asked.

“Haknyeon snapchatted your practice. I'm not sure. I think we're having a sleepover,” Yeonjung said. She passed Hyunmin her phone to show him footage of himself around an hour previously doing a demonstration for some younger students. Hyunmin appreciated the caption about being a hot guy but he wasn't sure how he felt about all the eggplant and tongue emojis obscuring his surroundings.

“Why are we having a sleepover?” Hyunmin asked as he passed Yeonjung back her phone. She had pretended not to be affected by the notification sound while the phone was still in Hyunmin’s possession, but her eyes had clearly widened and she flinched. Hyunmin didn’t ask any questions. He trusted that Yeonjung would remember the chivalry he had shown by not asking who went by the name of ‘Shameless’ with a turtle emoji and a dancing girl emoji. If she knew what was good she would repay him at some point.  

“Haknyeon said something about getting smashed and then getting… smashed,” she said with slightly different emphasis and a significant look.

Hyunmin frowned. That didn’t sound like something that Haknyeon would say. Or it did and Hyunmin was mistaking him for someone who hadn’t spent a solid fortnight after they broke up whining at Hyunmin and begging for some time alone with no clothes on. “That doesn’t explain why everyone is here.”

“Cockblocking, I guess,” Yeonjung shrugged as though Hyunmin wasn’t perfectly capable of cockblocking himself.

“It’s going to take three of you to cockblock?” Hyunmin asked. “And none of you is Ahn Hyeongseob?”

Yeonjung looked at Hyunmin as though he had grown three heads. “I didn't know you were so keen to be hospitalised,” she said. “I will be sure to let Haknyeon know that you want him to get beaten up too.”

Hyunmin frowned. He hoped for some backup but his mum had whisked Haknyeon away to the kitchen and Sunghyuk was patting his thighs and patiently looking towards the door. It was just Hyunmin and Yeonjung against each other and Hyunmin didn't think his mind would stand much more of her confusion-inducing cruelty. Hyunmin would never want Haknyeon to get beaten up and he would never accuse Hyeongseob of doing such a thing either. Yeonjung was so pretty and wonderful but it was almost as though their moment at the swimming pool hadn't happened at all! There was no danger of Hyunmin falling in love with her today. It was fine, he didn't need supervised cockblocking - especially not from the likes of Yeonjung, Sunghyuk and Mina.

For all the dignity Hyunmin possessed mentally, when he opened his mouth his retort sounded petulant. “Yeonjung, you are so mean! Why would I ever want Haknyeon to get beaten up? And how could you say Hyeongseob would do it when Kang Mina is here and is probably already disposing of my brother's body?”

Yeonjung didn't say anything. Hyunmin’s words were met with a sharp kick to the back of his knees and he folded to the ground.

“Hyeongseob has already killed you multiple times. Technically,” Hyunjun said as he returned to his spot on the floor. He was correct but Hyeongseob only ever declared Hyunmin dead and hadn't done anything more violent than regularly implement level four-point-five of ignoring him.

Hyunmin peered pathetically up at Mina and she kicked him again before squeezing between Sunghyuk and Yeonjung.

“I really might die,” Hyunmin whined.

“I will make sure to look sexy at your funeral,” Mina assured.

“You can't look sexier than me at my own funeral.”

“I can and I will,” Mina said at the same time that Hyunjun said, “You won't be sexy at all. You'll be dead, idiot.”

“I'll make sure you look sexy,” Sunghyuk said kindly. Hyunmin was pleased that someone was on his side, but he was mostly disappointed that it was Sunghyuk whose idea of sexy was to roll the waistband of his shorts so that his football strip looked more like a dress than a T-shirt. Hyunmin was saved from being insincere by the reappearance of his mum and Haknyeon who were each carrying trays laden with beer and snacks. Sunghyuk eyed the two of them before muttering, “But not too sexy.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”Hyunmin asked.

“Will you please be quiet?” Hyunmin’s mum sighed as she passed the tray to Sunghyuk and collapsed back into her seat. “Hyunmin, you were such a precious child. All of a sudden you're always making a racket and giving me headaches.”

“I will make sure he stays quiet,” Haknyeon said solemnly as he draped himself over Hyunmin’s prone form.

“You've already failed, Yeonjung,” Hyunmin muttered into the carpet.

“I'm Haknyeon! Joo Haknyeon! How could you forget my name? Don't you love me?”

“He loves Hweseung-hyung more than he loves you,” Hyunjun said as he reached for a can of beer from Haknyeon's tray.

“Hweseung-hyung is an evil, ugly cheater,” Sunghyuk said like the wonderfully loyal and unsexy friend that he was.

Hyunjun frowned and paused his feeble attempts to defeat the ring pull on his can. “What does that mean?”

Hyunmin groaned into the carpet while Mina helpfully explained that Hweseung was an evil, ugly cheater because he was sleeping with other people while not having any romantic links to Hyunmin. She wasn't explaining it right but when Hyunmin lifted his head to correct her he couldn't help but notice the irritation on his mother's face.

“Must I hear the details of my son’s sex life?” she asked tersely.

“The point is that your son doesn't have a sex life,” Mina said loudly enough to drown out Haknyeon's sombre declaration of, “I promise you won't hear us.”

Mina's voice probably wasn't loud enough to dull Haknyeon's words from Hyunjun’s ears, but he was otherwise occupied and he finally succeeded in cracking open his beer. Hyunjun slurped noisily at the foam that had only fizzed up because of his useless and unnecessary methods of can opening. He must have been ignoring Haknyeon on purpose, which was fine because Hyunmin was beginning to think that Haknyeon had been pre-drinking for him to be like this in front of Hyunmin’s family. He should have guessed from the fact that he was greeted with a kiss after taekwondo practice, or the begging for a baby, or any other clues that revealed themselves before Haknyeon had climbed on top of Hyunmin and started muttering to himself about whether or not their other friends would be polite enough to leave when he finally worked out how to get them both naked.

Hyunjun had seen Haknyeon like this before, but that occasion ended with Haknyeon crawling into Hyunjun’s bed and snoring loudly all night. Hyunjun had evacuated his bedroom and warned Hyunmin of the consequences of his (at the time) boyfriend throwing up in the bed or anything else deemed blackmail-able activity. Hyunmin had the distinct impression that his brother was hoping for another opportunity to extort him.

Or there were other methods he preferred to make Hyunmin suffer. “You're not going out with Hweseung-hyung? How long has it been?” Hyunjun asked, as though the point needed any sort of clarification.

“It has been four months, I think,” Mina said. “Hyunmin should really be over him by now.”

“Thanks,” Hyunmin grumbled.

“I'm helping, I will help you get over him,” Haknyeon insisted into Hyunmin’s ear.

“Hyunmin can't help it if he is a pathetic loser who can't survive without being in a romantic relationship,” Yeonjung said. She must already have forgotten the favour Hyunmin did her by not mentioning the ‘shameless’ person who was texting her. That was fine. Hyunmin luckily had a good memory for things like this. He also committed his own mother's agreement with Yeonjung to memory.

Hyunmin was not pathetic. He was attractive and talented and a serial heartbreaker. His mum had plenty to brag about but was instead downing cans of beer and grimly patting Sunghyuk’s knee.

Hyunmin knew it was silly to still be bothered by Hweseung, and he knew that the things Hyeongseob had said when Eunki had first revealed what he had heard were all true, but it really couldn't be helped. It wasn't because he was pathetic or a loser. It just wasn't nice to think about the fact that he had liked Hweseung for a long time and after building up the courage to confess his feelings for the first time in his life, he was led on. It might have even been better if Hweseung had rejected Hyunmin eight months ago rather than being so half-hearted about their relationship and assuring Hyunmin that they could still be friends.

Despite the distance between them, Hyunmin considered Eunki to be a friend already. It was difficult enough to think about confessing to him without the threat of being told that they were better off as friends looming. He would hate to be filled with fluttering feelings day in day out for several months, becoming more and more certain that this was true love only for Eunki to decide that it wasn't what he was looking for.

It was difficult to determine whether it was a good idea to confess to Eunki at all. All his friends seemed to think so but his friends were a person who claimed to hate him semi-regularly and spent most of his time failing to get the attention of his crush (Hyeongseob), a person who actually did hate him and was very secretive about her own love life (Yeonjung), a person who didn't hate anyone but was too naive and eternally single to give good advice (Sunghyuk), a person who was almost as popular as Hyunmin but her opinion about Hyunmin was difficult to pinpoint considering the vagueness of their friendship (Mina), and Haknyeon. Hyunmin doubted he had the best pool of reference for good decisions. They all deemed themselves qualified to harp on at Hyunmin about how he was hung up on Hweseung. It was difficult not to be hung up on the first person he thought he had really liked, only to find out that the feeling was not at all mutual.

Everything would be much easier if Eunki would make his thoughts on Hyunmin clear. Something more concrete than calling him his piggy and making a conscious effort to catch up with him every time they happened upon each other. Hyunmin wanted to hear that Eunki was interested in him in some capacity that was at least a little bit flirty and romantic.

It would be better than wondering and not knowing and having his friends call him pathetic because he was justifiably scared.

Hyunmin had every excuse to want to tip his mood closer to happiness. He deserved it. What he did not deserve was turning into a blubbering mess who was crying into the pretend sympathy of Haknyeon's lap while his mum scolded him for having poor form in front of his friends.

“It is fine,” Haknyeon slurred happily as he dragged Hyunmin off the sofa. “I will take Hyunmin somewhere quiet and cheer him up.”

“You will not!” Sunghyuk cried, tugging Hyunmin’s ankles.

“I want to be happy,” Hyunmin muttered to himself.

“Let him be happy, Sunghyuk, I am sure this will be good for both of them,” Yeonjung said. She was almost right. It would be better for everyone if each one of them could feel happy. Hyunmin wanted everyone to be happy so he was only a little bit sad when his mum said she would only be happy if she could escape next door.

Haknyeon had made an attempt to politely bid farewell to Hyunmin’s mum and was somehow beneath Hyunmin after giving up on dragging him out of the living room. He looked confused but it was cute. Hyunmin hoped that Haknyeon would find somebody soon. Somebody who could take care of him even when he wasn't being a messy drunk and would give him the baby he seemed to suddenly want.

“Haknyeon, I will find you someone who can give you a baby,” Hyunmin said solemnly.

“I want a baby,” Haknyeon agreed.

“I want something to eat,” Hyunjun said.

“Me too. I haven't eaten since breakfast,” Mina said. Hyunmin was sure it was a lie because he remembered Mina eating earlier, but that could have been a different day. There were many other times when he had seen Haknyeon feeding Mina - just like a baby, so he should have realised that Haknyeon had wanted one before - so Hyunmin couldn't be sure.

Hyunmin wasn't even sure whether he wanted to eat so he was glad to hear that Sunghyuk made the executive decision to cook for everyone. Hyunjun was less happy to hear that and trapped Sunghyuk in a headlock before he managed to stand up properly.

“All the ramen in this house is mine. If any of you rude kids touches it you will die,” Hyunjun hissed.

“Am I rude, Hyung?” Sunghyuk asked in a wavering voice.

“Of course not. You are my favourite. That kid trying to put his hands down my brother's pants is definitely rude,” Hyunjun said.

“Joo Haknyeon, stop that!” Mina demanded as she kicked Haknyeon's arm. With just that one kick she instantly bruised Hyunmin’s shoulder, which was entirely undeserved! Haknyeon whimpered sadly but Mina didn't take pity on him as she trod on his fingers.

“Is that necessary?” Yeonjung asked. If even she was questioning Mina's actions it should have been abundantly clear that crushing Haknyeon's hands was unnecessary. But Hyunmin couldn't string that many words together and was only able to garble protests at his brother telling Mina to stop attacking Haknyeon and to fetch Hyunmin’s wallet so he could buy something delicious for them all.

After Hyunjun had placed an order, he put Sunghyuk in charge of putting Haknyeon into bed and Yeonjung was in charge of helping Hyunmin to sober up. Hyunmin had heard from some classmates in high school that it was possible to ‘drown’ as a result of drinking too much water. He wasn't sure whether hearing that would have made Yeonjung more or less keen to keep tipping pints of water into Hyunmin’s mouth. His head hurt and his belly was fit to burst by the time Yeonjung allowed him to crawl from the kitchen to the downstairs toilet. He felt a lot more sober but was surprised to find that Yeonjung was still sitting cross-legged on the kitchen floor.

“Who have you been talking to all night?” Hyunmin asked.

Yeonjung glanced up at Hyunmin and then back down at her phone. “I am reluctant to admit as much myself but I suppose you would all call yourselves my friends.”

“That's cute. I feel really loved,” Hyunmin said as he sat in front of her. “I mean on your phone.”

“What's it to you?”

“You must like that person a lot. But I wonder who it is.”

Yeonjung sighed and dropped her phone into her lap. “Hyunmin, what do you want?”

“Even though you hate me I think of you as a really close friend,” Hyunmin said. A guilty look passed over Yeonjung’s face and her lips moved as though she was silently apologising. Hyunmin didn't want an apology because he had given out plenty of insincere apologies in his time. He wanted Yeonjung to open up to him just a little. He wanted some sign that her constant distaste was partly for show.

Yeonjung had always been Mina's friend first but even after the weird break-up which crumbled away the excess of Mina's relationship with Hyunmin, Yeonjung stuck around. She was less impressed with Hyunmin and she almost never had a kind word to say to him but she was never truly malicious. There was nothing to suggest that she really did dislike him.

Yeonjung looked like she was about to speak when Hyunjun appeared in the kitchen doorway.

“Mina and I decided that you two can open the door for the delivery,” he said with a smile.

“Hyung, why are you so mean? I already had to pay for it! You and Mina committed a crime by using my card to pay.”

Hyunjun shrugged. “The rest of your friends become accomplices the second they stuff their faces with the food you paid for.”

“I am prepared to go to prison,” Yeonjung said sagely. Hyunmin hated how quickly she switched back to her usual mode of dry disinterest. He wished his brother could have gone elsewhere, even for just a few more minutes. But it was too late and there was no longer a trace of the hope Hyunmin had remaining on Yeonjung’s face.

“They won't let you share a cell with Mina, you know,” Hyunmin said as witheringly as he could. He was glad he was sober enough to do this much. “You will have to share a cell with a burglar or something and you will become their slave.”

“Don't be silly, Hyunmin,” Hyunjun grinned, “Yeonjung would become the top dog on her first day in prison.”

“Go away, thief,” Hyunmin grumbled. “I am trying to fight with my friends!”

The hands Hyunjun held up as though trying to diffuse the situation were at odds with the sly tilt to the grin on his face. “If you plan to fight all of them I suggest you leave Sunghyuk out of it. He is feeling a bit delicate after the annoying one kissed him and made him promise to be faithful for the sake of their unborn child.”

“Where did this happen?” Hyunmin asked. The information provided was useless and nonsensical and didn't quite match the twinkle in his brother's eye.

With the widening of his lips, Hyunjun replied, “Your bedroom.”

Hyunmin groaned. “Is Haknyeon in my bed? Has he thrown up in my bed?” Hyunjun shook his head but he still looked too gleeful. Hyunmin hazarded, “Has he peed in my bed?”

“He hasn't done anything yet but I am taking bets if either of you want in on the action.”

Hyunmin absolutely did not want to place a bet on the ill fate of his beloved bed and he glared at Yeonjung to suggest she also refrained from getting involved. Thankfully when Yeonjung did open her mouth it was not for a flutter, but was instead to ask, “Why is Sunghyuk feeling delicate?”

“Haknyeon lunged at him with surprising accuracy for someone that drunk,” Hyunjun mused. “Anyway his stolen first kiss has now impregnated the worst of your friends and he is fretting over how he will support his new family.”

“That isn't how babies are made. At all,” Yeonjung said slowly.

Hyunjun shrugged. “Sunghyuk is a bit wet though, isn't he? I think it's quite cute.”

Hyunmin was offended. His brother should have been saving his doting for blood relatives first. Sure, Sunghyuk was very cute but Hyunmin was much cuter and much less stupid about things like reproduction. At least Hyunmin would never have got himself into such a mess with Haknyeon of all people. He would have at least chosen someone more composed like Yeonjung for that sort of thing.

Hyunjun didn't even have the good grace to pretend he cared when Hyunmin turned sulky and told Yeonjung they were going to wait outside for their food. It was mostly surprising that Yeonjung listened and followed him out of the kitchen. Maybe he had cracked some of her affected indifference. That was a nice thought. It felt like progress.

It was chilly outside but as Hyunmin huddled closer to Yeonjung on the doorstep she shuffled away from him. The progress was not as vast as Hyunmin had thought. He returned to sulking, now annoyed at Yeonjung rejecting him more than his brother favouring Sunghyuk. He wrapped his arms tighter around himself and hoped Yeonjung was just as cold as he was.

He was glad to be able to play his flinch off as a particularly violent shiver when Yeonjung said, “It's a girl.”

Hyunmin waited a moment before he eventually said, “What?”

“The person I have been talking to is a girl. I like her,” Yeonjung said quietly.

Hyunmin doubted Yeonjung would appreciate him gaping at her in surprise that she had actually opened up to him so he closed his mouth with a click and tried to temper his curiosity.

“What about Mina?” Hyunmin was aware that he had failed and should have gone with a safer question but it was too late. The words were out there, hanging in the condensed breath before their faces, and Yeonjung was frowning.

“What about her?”

“I thought you liked her.”

Yeonjung looked like she was about to cry before she sagged and tipped her head onto the arms she had crossed over the tops of her knees. “How did you know?”

Hyunmin wasn't sure how to tell Yeonjung that Mina was the one who had told him her suspicions and asked him to keep an eye out and maybe even try to dissuade her from her feelings. If Hyunmin was in Yeonjung’s position and heard something like that he definitely would cry, and there was no point in that when Yeonjung seemed to be happily talking to someone else. He cringed at how suspicious he sounded when he replied, “Lucky guess.”

Yeonjung closed her eyes and sighed. “I don't think she likes me so there is no point wasting time. This girl started talking to me first and all of a sudden I like her.”

“That's good.”

“It is useless to put so much time and effort into trying to get someone to like you when they don't reciprocate. If a person doesn't like you back when you have done all you can you should give up.” Yeonjung opened her eyes and fixed Hyunmin with a sharp gaze as she added, “Find someone else.”

Hyunmin’s mouth felt dry despite all the water Yeonjung had forced him to drink earlier but he supposed that would be the case when he was suddenly sweating out every drop of water in his body. His hands were clammy no matter how much he wiped them on his trousers, and his back and armpits were prickling with the engagement of his endocrine glands. Haknyeon might have been right about it being possible to catch a cold while sweating because Hyunmin’s head already felt stuffy.

Yeonjung’s words sounded too direct. She was only explaining her own situation but Hyunmin wondered whether he was being paranoid by thinking she was giving him some advice too.

“Find someone else? Isn't that too drastic?”

“Should I carry on making myself miserable by liking a girl who won't like me back?”

Of course. This was just Yeonjung talking about her own situation. It was nothing to do with Hyunmin and his problems.

“You're right. It is better to have someone who likes you back,” Hyunmin said quietly.

Yeonjung sat up straight. The moment was over. And she said, “Have you ever considered it?”

Hyunmin had been right to worry. He tried to laugh but he just sounded dry. He might really have come down with something.

“Is that a ‘have I considered you’ question or a ‘have I considered what you just said’ question?”

At least Yeonjung smiled a bit before she said, “If you had asked me out at the start of the year I might have said yes. But you have been far too busy with your own issues.”

“Issues?”

“Yes, issues. Like have you made any progress with Eunki-oppa?”

That was not a question that Hyunmin wanted to hear. Not after the sort of wise things she had just said to him. He had done all he could to try to get Eunki to like him short of actually confessing. He had invited Eunki out on dates that turned out not to be dates because Eunki was too popular and friendly for Hyunmin to be able to keep him to himself, and he had given up on that and tried group outings, and he made sure to message Eunki every morning and evening just to touch base, and he even pretended that the gifts he got for Eunki were just extra things he had noticed when out and he simply wondered whether they might be more at home in Eunki’s possession.

Hyunmin didn't want to move on. He would eventually have to move on from Hweseung, but Eunki represented years of Hyunmin working towards the realisation that he liked men and it was a possibility to have the romance he had precociously committed himself to before he was really sure what marriage and babies all meant. But he hadn't made any progress. By that merit he should give up and move on.

“I guess not,” Hyunmin muttered. Now that he was sober enough he decided to send that good night text to Eunki. It was a habit that he didn't want to break even if Yeonjung told him that this was the most hopeless thing in the world.

“Oh, the food is here already,” Yeonjung said as she jumped up. A white car had pulled up on the street and the driver was slowly climbing out of the vehicle.

And then Eunki was walking down his garden path on the other side of the fence - and maybe Hyunmin was still drunk and unobservant because he hadn't heard the front door open - to greet the delivery driver.

Yeonjung flailed a moment as she realised what had happened and she whirled to face Hyunmin with an oddly upset expression.

“Sorry, Hyunmin,” she said as she rushed past him into the house. It was a strange time for an apology and she was the one who looked stupid for making the mistake. Hyunmin didn't need an apology so he frowned and resigned himself to waiting alone in the cold for their food.

Eunki looked just as confused as Hyunmin felt but he smiled all the same.

“Hi,” Eunki said after he paid the delivery driver and was arranging the bags of food in his arms.

“Hyung, you ordered food too?” Hyunmin said.

“I just wanted some late night snacks,” Eunki said. “Don't tell anyone though.”

“Is that all for you?” Hyunmin eyed the bags of food and wondered how many stomachs Eunki had. “Maybe you need some help.”

“Are you offering to help me carry this or eat it?” Eunki grinned.

Hyunmin shrugged. “I'll eat some if you really want me to.”

“How kind of you,” Eunki cooed. His grip slipped and Hyunmin was glad to be able to take a step closer and catch the bags. He slowly extracted one from Eunki’s arms. There was definitely more than enough food for multiple people so maybe this was Hyunmin’s chance. He could escape the dread that was hanging over him at the thought of Haknyeon throwing up in his bed and somehow get to spend some time with Eunki. it was the perfect chance. But Hyunmin didn't want to be the one to ask. He wanted to be invited.

“I am very kind, Hyung. I would do anything you want me to do.”

Eunki nodded, still smiling. “That's good to know, Hyunmin.”

“If there's anything else you need to know, such as how good looking and desirable I am, I can let you know all about it,” Hyunmin said.

Eunki’s laugh was a wonderful sound. This laugh was Hyunmin’s favourite. It was better than the polite chuckle that Eunki most often showcased and even if this was Eunki laughing at Hyunmin and calling him silly it was his favourite.

“If you were also curious about what a brilliant boyfriend I am I can tell you all about how polite and kind and thoughtful I am. If you want some testimonials I can call someone right now,” Hyunmin added.

“How did you know what I was most curious about?” Eunki asked with more of that beautiful laugh. He even nudged Hyunmin’s shoulder which was great. this was great. Hyunmin was glad Yeonjung sobered him up enough for him to be able to enjoy this.

“Speaking of boyfriends,” Eunki said on the tail end of his laugh, “How are you holding up?”

“What do you mean?”

Eunki hesitated but set his expression in the same brand of uncomfortable smile that he used when telling Hyunmin that he couldn't make it to watch yet another taekwondo exhibition, or that Junki had accidentally killed Hyunmin’s goldfish. This wasn't quite the same as the goldfish because the Eunki right now wasn't a ten-year old boy with snot running down to his chin and promising to do anything in the world for Hyunmin. Hyunmin can't remember what he wasted that promise on and wished he had saved it for something good like getting a proper date.

He should have expected to have a bad reminder.

“Hweseung-hyung. Have you spoken to him?”

Hyunmin had texted him after being advised by Hyeongseob. It wasn't the same as really talking it out but there had been some contact.

“Don't you need to get inside with your food?” Hyunmin asked. It smelled good and he was still hoping for an invitation. Eating was much better than having to talk about things which still upset him.

Eunki shrugged. “My parents won't care that much and your mum can't get upset if I tell her I was comforting her crying son.”

Hyunmin wanted that invitation inside a bit less. It had slipped his mind that his mum had gone next door when she got sick of Hyunmin’s friends. She wouldn't be too happy to see him making a fool of himself over Eunki in another house.

“I'm not crying, Hyung,” Hyunmin grumbled.

“Do you want me to make you cry?” Eunki offered. Hyunmin wouldn't like that very much. He could quite easily bring himself to the verge of tears while thinking about how little he had to show for all his efforts trying to get noticed.

“I never cry,” Hyunmin said, because it sounded a lot cooler than ‘I cry all the time’.

“That is a lie.”

“It isn't, Hyung! I am really brave and I am also good at comforting crying people.” Hyunmin extended the lie. He was terrible at comforting people who needed more than a kiss or a hug or a hand down their pants, but he was confident that Eunki fell into at least one of those categories.

“Are you really good at comforting crying people? Will you comfort me if I feel sad?”

“Of course, Hyung, whenever you want,” Hyunmin said. Eunki nodded.

“Me too. I would do the same for you too. So if you are feeling down about what is happening with Hweseung-hyung you can tell me. I’m here for you.”

Eunki really wasn’t letting this go. Hyunmin supposed it might be good to get some pity. He stepped in a little closer and smiled up at Eunki.

“I’m glad I have someone like you around, Hyung.”

“Always,” Eunki said softly. His smile was warm and Hyunmin had never felt luckier than in this moment. Even if right now he was being pitied, Eunki was delaying his return for his sake. It was more than Hyunmin deserved considering all the complaining he had done.

“You’re nice, right, Hyung?” Hyunmin asked. “You wouldn’t lead a person on and then sleep with other people, would you?”

Eunki’s face fell and Hyunmin wished that he wasn’t asking this, but even after sobering up Hyunmin was still feeling clingy and needy. He was too similar to Haknyeon who couldn’t detach himself from the nearest warm body and it would be a while before he would be as composed as Hyunjun was to be able to make fun of Hyunmin and his friends while barely affected. Hyunmin couldn’t help himself and he hoped that Eunki would at least give him this moment of assurance.

Eunki nodded, his face set with determination. “I would never do that.”

“Even to me?”

“Especially not to you,” Eunki said. “You don’t deserve any of that. Hyunjun has told about some of your troubles with Hweseung-hyung. You’re too kind-hearted to be treated like that. If it were me I would give you everything.”

Hyunmin could feel his dizziness accumulating far too quickly as he tilted his head to survey Eunki more closely. The axis of the earth had shifted and tipped Hyunmin into this alternate reality where Eunki said terribly romantic things. Hyunmin’s mind wasn't as foggy as mixing drinks had made it but even after chugging down water he wasn't experiencing the world in total clarity. He was still confused about so much and it would have been good to know how long ago he had switched dimensions.

Even though his head hurt - Eunki’s words only contributing to the dull ache of inebriation - Hyunmin wanted to make the most of this. He stepped closer. He stood on Eunki’s foot and muttered an apology as he reached out and hoped he wouldn't drop the food he was carrying.

“You still can, Hyung,” Hyunmin said. “For so long I have wanted to have it all. Even if you don't really have those sorts of feelings for me it might be nice to give it a try.”

Eunki frowned. “Hyunmin, what about your feelings?”

Hyunmin knew that he was asking for a lot. Even drunk he knew that he was being selfish and forceful. Eunki was smart so he undoubtedly knew of the ramifications of playing with feelings like that. He was being responsible and pointing out how Hyunmin’s attachment would only get worse if he got a taste of the romance that he craved. But Hyunmin was almost certain that he could control his feelings and temper them to something that wouldn't be such a bother to Eunki. before he could even plead for it they were interrupted.

“Eunki, what is taking -” Eunki’s brother paused in the doorway and frowned down at Eunki and Hyunmin at the bottom of the porch steps. Junki was tall and handsome, like Eunki, and he made a lot of money from his good looks. Hyunmin always wondered whether Eunki would do the same, but perhaps Eunki wouldn't be as successful in that field because he was in possession of a wonderful personality in addition to his chiselled good looks and that might disqualify him from whatever mean model money machine Junki was part of.

As if to prove to Hyunmin that he was terrible, Junki approached and snatched the bag of food from Hyunmin’s arms. “Which one are you?” Junki asked.

“I'm Hyunmin.”

“I don't know what that means.”

“Hyung, this is Hyunjun’s younger brother Hyunmin,” Eunki explained with a smile. Junki blinked very slowly and gave Eunki a look that clearly stated how little he cared.

“I have been in there starving and faking laughs for our parents because you were out here having a chat with a five year old for hours?” Junki said. “Hurry up and suffer with me.”

“I will, Hyung,” Eunki said reluctantly. Hyunmin wanted to be reading the situation correctly. He wanted the longing he could see to be true. He wanted to talk more and try to convince Eunki that his terrible idea could be good even just for a little while.

Hyunmin couldn't open his mouth with Junki standing so close and stealing away the focus to ease the blurring of the definition in his friendship with Eunki. He had to make do with having faith that they could carry on like this another time.

“Eat well, Eunki-hyung. please think about what I said.”

When Eunki turned back to give a parting smile, Hyunmin’s heart plummeted. Eunki looked suddenly cheery and his voice sounded carelessly bright as he responded, “I will, piggy Minnie.”

Hyunmin was where he always was, never progressing and always struggling to find a way to get his point across. The fresh breeze was too sobering and Hyunmin was endlessly glad when his own order of food arrived so that he could return inside to undo Yeonjung’s efforts to get him to think clearly.

  


The next morning was a slow one and Hyunmin was the second of the group to wake up. Yeonjung was the first and had shoved Hyunmin away from her with such force that he sailed over the edge of his bed and onto the floor. Hyunmin’s impact on the floor woke up everyone else who had crammed themselves into Hyunmin’s bed to doze. Hyunmin mostly thought it was rude that Hyunjun hadn't even hosted a couple of Hyunmin’s friends (the ones at least risk of throwing up in his bed like Mina and Sunghyuk at the very least) for the night so they didn't have to suffer stiff joints and constant stirring.

Though everyone had awoken to grumble about pains and phantom bruises gained during the night, none of them were inclined to get out of bed, aside from Hyunmin who shuffled right over to the open window as soon as he heard the tell-tale sounds of his neighbour venturing outside to enjoy the sunshine.

“He is so beautiful, what do I do?” Hyunmin asked the room at large. He had never been more glad that his bedroom window overlooked his neighbour's back garden. He remembered squabbling with Hyunjun as a kid because he was stuck with the small bedroom, but he was thankful that his brother had been so mean and refused to swap bedrooms. Hyunjun’s bedroom didn't have perfect views such as Hong Eunki doing yoga.

“Ask him out,” Haknyeon suggested.

“Bad idea.”

“Creepily watch him from your bedroom window,” Mina said.

“I hate you,” Hyunmin grumbled.

“Hyunmin, stop telling fibs,” Sunghyuk said from under the covers of Hyunmin’s bed. “You don’t hate anyone.”

“You’re wrong,” Hyunmin said. “I hate Kang Mina and I hate you too.”

Sunghyuk’s eyes widened and his lower lip jutted out. Hyunmin should have known better than to look away from the exemplary physical perfection of Hong Eunki. He only looked back at everyone lounging over his bed because he was wary of Mina’s reach and the possibility that she could give him a shove and send him flying out of the window. He was safe from a physical assault as Mina used her reach for good and hugged Yeonjung to her side. Hyunmin was less safe from Haknyeon rolling right onto Sunghyuk and obscuring all view of the dangerous pout. Hyunmin looked away. He supposed Haknyeon was aiding Hyunmin’s evasion of guilt, but he wanted to be hugged too! The only hugs Hyunmin was getting were provided by his own arms as he longed for Eunki.

“What do you think it would be like to be held by Eunki-hyung?”

“Nowhere near as good as being held by Sunghyuk,” Haknyeon said decisively.

“Are you still drunk?” Mina asked.

“Does it matter?” Haknyeon's question was practically an admission.

Hyunmin wished that he was still drunk, or at least that he was still in that nice fuzzy in between place where he was alone with Eunki and it seemed that they were flirting. Hyunmin wasn't even certain that it had really happened and maybe something like a soft stroke of fingers or a whisper of breath through hair would have given him a concrete memory to cling to. All he had was this perfect view of Eunki’s bare skin and his own confusion over what counted as real and imaginary.

At least Hyunmin knew that Eunki doing topless yoga in his back garden was real. It had to be real because there was no other explanation for the want thrumming beneath the surface of his skin so soon after waking up.

“I want him to love me,” Hyunmin whimpered into his crossed arms on the window sill. He felt a sympathetic foot kneading his bum and he was glad to have such strident support from Mina.

“I know how you feel,” Haknyeon said. His voice was suspiciously muffled and it didn't help that Sunghyuk kept hissing at him to leave his neck alone. They were ruining the mood and interrupting Hyunmin’s wallowing in unfulfilled romance.

“How could you possibly know how I feel?” Hyunmin sniffed.

Haknyeon hummed and Sunghyuk yelped. Hyunmin kept staring into the haze of the late summer morning as the sharp impact of a palm against skin rang out and the four friends behind Hyunmin scuffled quietly. It all seemed to calm down and outside Eunki was in the downward facing dog position. Haknyeon said, “Right now I am fighting with my boyfriend so I have to make him jealous to make sure that he loves me.”

“The fact you can freely admit that is terrifying,” Yeonjung said.

Unhealthy relationship manipulation aside, Hyunmin frowned at Haknyeon's words. “You have a boyfriend?”

“Yes. He is going out with an older man,” Sunghyuk said. Then he whined and begged Haknyeon to stop pinching him. Haknyeon didn't seem to have the nerve to pinch Yeonjung as she chimed in with, “A much older man.”

“I thought you wanted to have sex with me,” Hyunmin grumbled sadly.

If Hyunmin wasn't feeling so down with the onset of his hangover he would have resisted against the arms that closed around his throat.

“Always!” Haknyeon cried as he strangled Hyunmin even harder. “I always want to have sex with you!”

“Haknyeon wasn't always like this, was he?” Mina asked in a low voice.

Sunghyuk replied, “It was a really bad fight. He has been in pretty bad shape since then so I have been trying to keep an eye on him but it is too hard.”

Hyunmin hadn't even known that Haknyeon had a boyfriend in the first place and while being offended that Haknyeon was insisting that Hyunmin was the only person he would ever cheat on his boyfriend with, he was infinitely more offended that his so-called friend hadn't even let him know. Hyunmin wanted to be happy for his exes-cum-friends and cheer them on in their future relationships, and complain about how terrible their current significant others were when they had fights, and he wanted to be involved in secret anniversary surprises, and he wanted to go on double-dates and bring Eunki along too! he didn't want to be the last person to know about the relationships and only find out that he was supposed to be involved in some sort of weird infidelity plot.

Hyunmin shoved Haknyeon away and didn't respond to the bleating about how rude that was. He needed to be alone for a while and went to shower and hoped things would make more sense when he was clean and fresh.  

 

Things did not make much more sense when Hyunmin went downstairs for food and found his mum in the kitchen heating up food and writing post-it notes and sticking them to appliances around the kitchen.

She kissed Hyunmin on the forehead, which was unusual in itself, and told him that Hyunjun was in charge so he should be a good boy and listen. Hyunmin was grumbling about how he was always a good boy when Hyunjun came into the kitchen and subsequently kicked Hyunmin’s legs from underneath him. It was rude and unfair and their mum couldn't even be decent and defend her youngest against the tyrannical rule that she had agreed to in her absence. Hyunmin made sure to ignore his mum as the procession of his friends shuffled into the kitchen and thanked Hyunmin’s mum for feeding them. Hyunmin ignored his mum right up until the last second when the front door was swinging shut and he yelled for her to have a great day before it slammed hard enough to rattle the window panes.

She probably heard but still didn't care enough to rescue Hyunmin from the clutches of his evil brother who had undertaken a role serving breakfast to Hyunmin’s friends. Sunghyuk’s serving was suspiciously larger than Hyunmin’s and that was unfair.

“Why does Sunghyuk have so much?”

Mina sighed and rolled her eyes. “You can have some of the mine if it bothers you so much.”

“You can't have any of mine and I hope it bothers you a lot,” Yeonjung said sincerely. There was no way last night happened if she was back to being like this. Though Mina giggled into Yeonjung’s shoulder and Hyunmin didn't miss the stiffness that jolted her body. Hyunmin wasn't the type of person to gossip when it would hurt someone so he said nothing to Yeonjung’s meanness and focused instead on the meanness of his brother.

“I am going to tell mum when she gets back and she will shout at you,” Hyunmin threatened.

Hyunjun only laughed as he doled out the rest of the portions and gave himself the biggest serving of all.

“Why isn't Hyeongseob here anyway?” Hyunjun asked through a mouthful.

“I guess Hyunmin just didn’t want to invite him,” Yeonjung shrugged.

Hyunjun nodded for a moment before squinting at Hyunmin. “Wait, you’re not dead are you?”

“No I am not!” Hyunmin grumbled. “Hyeongseob and I love each other very much. He isn’t here because I didn’t invite him, just like I didn’t invite any of you. Hyeongseob is the only one who actually loves me enough to leave me alone.”

There was a knock at the front door and Hyunjun raise his eyebrows at Hyunmin. “Are you ready to eat those words?”

Hyunmin huffed He wouldn’t have to eat any of his words. He was completely confident that the person at the door was not Hyeongseob. The knock had been polite rather than insistent hammering and that was all the proof that Hyunmin needed. He received more proof in the form of the awkward murmuring between Hyunjun and the visitor that drifted down the hallway and into the kitchen.

Haknyeon stiffened in the seat beside Hyunmin and Sunghyuk took enough notice to lean across the table to ask, “Are you alright?”

“He shouldn’t have come here.”

“Do you think it’s Jinwoo-hyung?” Sunghyuk asked quietly.

Hyunmin didn’t like being left out and leaned closer to ask, “Who is Jinwoo-hyung?”

Hyunjun returned awkwardly and gestured to the man who followed him into the kitchen. “Haknyeon, he’s here for you.”

The moment that Haknyeon, sulky and bleary, clapped eyes on Jinwoo he began to sob. He became snotty and dribbly in an impressive time and Hyunmin awkwardly sat beside him and pretended not to hear the wailing.

“Haknyeon, I have come to take you home,” Jinwoo said far too quietly to be heard over the racket Haknyeon was making. He looked abashed as he stepped further into the room and crouched beside Haknyeon's chair. He slowly reached up and swiped away some of the mess with his thumb before smiling grimly at Hyunmin. Hyunmin averted his eyes. He felt oddly guilty despite not knowing about this at all.

“He didn't do anything,” Sunghyuk said quickly which sounded even more guilty than Hyunmin felt.

Jinwoo nodded. “Thank you for looking after him.” The calm smiles and nodding stopped when Haknyeon reached for Jinwoo’s neck and sobbed harder.

“I really didn't do anything, Hyung. I wanted you to be hurt like I am, but I couldn't do it.”

Jinwoo’s alarm melted into a grimace at that. Hyunmin tried to look even more like he wasn't listening because, even if this was taking place at his kitchen table, it didn't seem right to ogle the two of them. Hyunjun continued to stare at the couple as he leaned against the door and Mina was equally enraptured. At least Yeonjung had some manners as was closely inspecting the placemat beneath her bowl of seaweed soup.

“Haknyeon, baby,” Jinwoo said softly. Whatever he intended to say got stuck behind his teeth as Haknyeon tugged Hyunmin across his lap and prodded painfully at his cheek.

“This is Hyunmin,” Haknyeon sobbed. “He is my ex so I was going to do it with him to get revenge on you but I couldn't.”

Hyunmin offered an awkward smile and absolutely did not think about how Haknyeon's inebriation was a more effective cockblock than Haknyeon's morals.

“I don't think we should have this conversation here,” Jinwoo said, thankfully ignoring Hyunmin. “You're still in a bit of a state so I will take you back to your sister's place and we can talk when you feel a bit better.”

“I will never feel better!” Haknyeon wailed. Hyunmin certainly believed that as Haknyeon's palm mashed into Hyunmin’s face. Hyunmin too thought that he would never get better as he struggled against the grip that held him down to Haknyeon's lap.

“Why can't we talk about it now? Why won't you take me back to your place?”

“You said you never wanted to see me again,” Jinwoo said.

As much as that sounded like something Haknyeon would say, it didn't sound like something he would ever mean. As long as Hyunmin had known Haknyeon he had thought of him as being overly sensitive and desperate for love so whatever the fight was about, Hyunmin doubted that it was enough for Haknyeon to truly never want to see Jinwoo again.

“Why are you so stupid, Hyung?” Haknyeon wheezed. Jinwoo nodded grimly and cradled Haknyeon's hands between his own.

“I really am sorry,” Jinwoo said. “I am not going to blame it on being stupid because I knew-”

“I meant you're stupid because I would never want to not see you,” Haknyeon howled. Jinwoo froze, completely uncomprehending, and Hyunmin took the opportunity to slide further away.

When Hyunmin was safely away from the clenching grip of Haknyeon, Sunghyuk said, “Haknyeon, do you want to go home now?”

“With Jinwoo-hyung?” Haknyeon blubbed.

“Yeah,” Sunghyuk nodded. “You can go home with Jinwoo-hyung and talk things over with him or you can come home with me and I can get Jihoon to tell you off.”

“I don’t want Jihoon to tell me off,” Haknyeon mumbled. He gave Hyunmin a watery smile before he looked back at Jinwoo. “You know I still love you, okay. I want to go home with you. I still only want you.”

Hyunmin thought everything went well right up until Jinwoo looked at him and said, “Thanks for not letting Haknyeon cheat on me with you.”

It was weird and Hyunmin hardly knew what was going on. He had the sense to wait until after Haknyeon and Jinwoo left before opening his mouth to ask what happened. Hyunjun lacked that same sense and hadn’t even closed the front door before pointing to Sunghyuk. “What was all that about?”

“It’s nothing,” Sunghyuk shrugged.

“You can’t tell me that was nothing,” Hyunjun groaned.

“To be fair, “Yeonjung said, “They did come into Hyunjun-oppa’s home and make a fuss. He deserves to know. Not all the dirty details. Just a little bit.”

“Don’t you know either?” Mina frowned at Yeonjung.

“I’m not a gossip. It doesn’t matter to me. But if Hyunjun-oppa doesn’t know, and I suppose Hyunmin doesn’t know either, then it is only fair for them to be told.”

“You’re really transparent,” Mina said with a roll of her eyes. Yeonjung didn’t quite manage a laugh and Hyunmin hoped for her sake that Mina wouldn’t read any more into it than Yeonjung feeling embarrassed for getting caught out as someone who wanted to know the details. Yeonjung was transparent about a lot of things but she didn’t need telling that and Hyunmin wasn’t going to let her dwell on it either.

“You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to, Sunghyuk,” Hyunmin said kindly. “If you choose not to tell us there is only level three waiting for you.”

“You’ll ignore me if I don’t tell you?” Sunghyuk asked.

“Nobody is saying that at all, Evil Secret Keeper,” Yeonjung said in a voice as equally kind as Hyunmin’s.

Sunghyuk wailed and dropped his head into his hands. It took a moment (in which Hyunjung silently thanked Hyunmin from across the table) but Sunghyuk sat up and pouted. “Alright but if Haknyeon gets upset that I told you then I will put all of you at level eight.”

“There isn’t a level eight,” Mina pointed out.

“Then I’ll ask Hyeongseob to make one for me!”

It was cute that Sunghyuk thought Hyeongseob would even consider doing that without consulting Hyunmin first (or at least being the first person to implement a new level on Hyunmin first) but Hyunmin wasn’t about to ruin things by saying that. He really did want to know what was going on seeing as Haknyeon had developed a habit of concealing things from him.

“So, about a week ago I got some weird messages,” Sunghyuk said. “It was from a number that I didn’t know and they were all just screenshots of someone else’s texts. There were a lot of them and then I got a message from Haknyeon to save them all and then block the number which sent me the pictures. I won’t go into too much detail but there were a lot of messages from one person telling another they they loved and missed them and if they had another chance they would do things differently. And the other person admitted to still loving the first one too.”

“You’re not going to go into too much detail, fine, but you’re not even going to clarify which person was Haknyeon’s boyfriend in this?” Yeonjung asked.

“I thought you didn’t care?” Mina scoffed.

“I second Yeonjung’s very valid point,” Hyunjun said. He glared at Hyunmin for another layer of approval but Hyunmin wouldn’t be cowed so easily.

“It doesn’t really matter though, does it,” Hyunmin said. “Sunghyuk said there were a lot of messages and nobody receives that many messages without responding unless they blocked the number. But they didn’t. They replied and kept it going. They’re both just as bad as each other so it doesn’t matter which one Haknyeon’s boyfriend was.”

“That’s rich coming from you,” Mina grumbled.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re saying regardless of the role of Haknyeon’s boyfriend it still counts as cheating, right?” Mina clarified. “By that logic you’ve cheated on every person you ever went out with.”

“Uh, what?”

“Oh,” Hyunjun said as he clapped his hands together. “Hyeongseob, right?”

“Wait, what is happening?” Hyunmin asked.

“Is it any wonder that you keep getting dumped and Hyeongseob can’t even get a guy to look at him with the way you both carry on?” Mina asked.

“Is that why you dumped me?” Hyunmin asked.

“No, but I’m not going to pretend it wasn’t part of the problem,” Mina said. “You’re always kissing him and inviting him out on dates and having sleepovers. Alarm bells would be ringing well before anyone found out that he is your ex.”

“We went out for a week!” Hyunmin retorted. “A week doesn’t mean anything. We’re just really great friends now. Anyway this isn’t about me and the only friend I have who actually loves me. This is about Haknyeon having weird issues and trying to use me to get back at his boyfriend.”

“No it isn’t,” Sunghyuk disagreed. “This is about you lot not wanting poor Haknyeon to have any privacy.”

“Being friends with Hyunmin has made me forget that there are people in the world who want privacy,” Yeonjung said. Hyunmin was almost happy with hearing that Yeonjung considered him to be a friend but he was too busy trying to downplay his indignance that she would say such a thing about him! Hyunmin liked to have privacy too! At least Hyunjun was frowning as though ready to jump to the defence of his precious younger brother.

“Maybe it isn’t such a bad thing when someone constantly broadcasts their personal life and is always hanging around their ex,” Hyunjun said thoughtfully.

“Uh, wow, I don’t really appreciate that,” Hyunmin said.

“I don’t really care,” Hyunjun retorted. “But I will give you my amazing and helpful suggestion anyway out of the goodness of my heart. Your Hyeongseob is close with Eunki’s ex-boyfriend, you know. You should just ask him to help you meet with Eunki’s ex and ask for some advice.”

That sounded like the only helpful thing anyone had ever said to Hyunmin in regards to his deep and eternal love for Eunki. Except Hyunmin had no idea why such words were coming from his brother. “Why are you saying this to me? How do you even know that I would want advice? And why are you bringing Eunki-hyung up so suddenly?”

Hyunjun rolled his eyes. “Did you think your friends weren’t going to fill me in eventually? They’ve all suffered enough, Hyunmin. Stop complaining about it and just make an effort to ask him out. If anything it might reduce the risk of being involved in an affair.”

Hyunjun’s words were met with vocal approval from Hyunmin’s alleged friends and he appreciated absolutely none of what just happened. He couldn’t even get them to change the subject back and he had to endure them forcibly dialing Hyeongseob’s number to ask him about putting Hyunjun’s ‘genius’ idea into play.

  


***

 

Before going inside the café to speak to Seunghyuk and Eunki’s ex-boyfriend, Hyunmin had spotted something unusual that he hadn't liked so he had called for everyone to be subtle as they looked. Subtle never usually involved the four of them pressing their faces against the window so that they didn't need to squint through the reflections on the glass, but Hyunmin had more pressing things to worry about. He didn't even care that Seunghyuk appeared to be trying to get Eunki’s ex to leave.

Hweseung was also in the café, sitting at a small table near the counter with a woman who had shining dark hair and a face that should have been on TV and not somewhere as mundane as this café.

“Please tell me Hweseung-hyung is just catching up with Moonbok-hyung,” Hyunmin groaned. Mina and Hyeongseob kept their mouths closed and Hyunmin supposed this was too far of a stretch for either of them. Yeonjung was slightly more helpful.

“That's Kim Jiyeon-unnie.”

“I don't know who that is. I don't keep track of every person you fancy.”

“We all have to keep track of whoever you fancy,” Mina pointed out.

“I only fancy one person,” Hyunmin said.

“If that was true I don't think you would be so bothered about Hweseung-hyung being on a date with Bona,” Hyeongseob said quietly. He was edging very close to Hyunmin being able to delete the selfie Hyeongseob forced him to post to Instagram where Hyunmin was mid-sneeze. Hyeongseob was supposed to be on Hyunmin’s side! But Hyunmin didn't want Hyeongseob to leave right away so he gave him another chance.

“ _That's_ Bona?” Hyunmin asked. He had heard things about the university's goddess Bona but he had generally ignored that sort of talk because at the time he was able to rebuff comments about her with a cool line about how the only goddess he needed was Kang Mina. He hadn't actually thought she was one of the most beautiful people on the planet. He would have at least tried to find out more about her and then not been surprised like this.

“Why are you so sure it's a date?” Yeonjung asked, clearly suffering from sight loss if coy laughter, entangled fingers and playing footsie together didn't denote a date to her.

“Is she one of your friends?” Hyunmin asked dourly. “Please tell me she is and that she hates men as much as you do. She's just using him for money or reputation, right?”

“I don't think Hweseung-seonbae is rich enough to brag about it and Bona is in her final year while Hweseung-seonbae is a second year. There is no reputation to be gained,” Mina said.

“They're the same age,” Hyeongseob said quietly. “It isn't anything too shocking. It's not like if someone our age got a date with Bona.”

“Yeonjung is right,” Hyunmin sniffed. “Why do we keep saying it is a date?” He stepped away from the window so he didn't have to see Seunghyuk rolling his eyes as Hyunmin delicately rubbed his eyes - because they were itchy and not because he was crying. He grasped Yeonjung’s hand and almost forgot to speak, he was so surprised that she would maintain the grip. “Yeonjung, Bona is your friend, right? She wouldn't sleep with Hweseung-hyung, would she?”

Yeonjung’s eyebrows formed a peak on her forehead, and the corners of her lips were downturned. “Sorry, Hyunmin, I don't know.”

Hyeongseob draped himself over Hyunmin’s back and squeezed him tightly, pressing his face close to Hyunmin’s.

“It doesn't matter, Hyunmin. You have to show Hweseung-hyung that you don't care. You aren't going to chase him anymore because you are going to be with Hong Eunki! Do you understand? You don't need to be upset about this. You haven't been pining after Eunki-hyung for years just to get upset over another man who hardly even counts as being an ex.”

It was great that Hyeongseob could turn things around so well. In fact, Hyunmin would upload every ugly selfie he had ever taken with Hyeongseob looking cute beside him! He deserved it for being such a great friend! Nobody would get ignored today! Even if Hyunmin was reluctant to completely release his sadness.

“I did love him though,” Hyunmin mumbled.

“Why are you so hung up on Hweseung-oppa,” Yeonjung asked, still holding Hyunmin’s hand. “Don't you think that would hurt Mina and Haknyeon? Have you been this upset over either of them, or any of your other exes, going on dates?”

“And me!” Hyeongseob piped up. He squeezed Hyunmin’s cheeks and said, “If you are like this over him, you had better mourn for the rest of your life when I get into a relationship.”

“I will,” Hyunmin said.

Hyunmin knew that he was being silly and he shouldn't have been reacting like this because an ex was on a date but he couldn't help that over-thinking was part of who he was. Hyunmin must not have mattered this whole time, not if Hweseung’s behaviour towards Hyunmin hadn’t changed at all. Hweseung still gave him the same easy smiles and called him cute and promised to buy him things as he had when they were going out with each other. There was almost no difference between Hweseung as Hyunmin’s boyfriend and Hweseung as somebody else’s boyfriend and Hyunmin hated it.

But there were lots of other things that hadn’t changed either. Hyeongseob never changed whether Hyunmin was somebody else’s boyfriend or not. Hyeongseob still hugged Hyunmin and tried to make him laugh and pouted when he didn’t get attention and told him everything that he wanted to hear.

Hyunmin needed to be more emphatic about the fact that he loved everything about Hyeongseob. He wrapped his arms around Hyeongseob and pulled him into a hug tight enough to make Hyeongseob groan minutely.

“I love you so much. I will cry for at least a month when you finally start going out with Woojin and then at your wedding I will object and get thrown out and you’ll only be able to see me in secret because of how much trouble I cause.”

Hyeongseob chuckled quietly into Hyunmin’s neck. “I can’t wait for you to make my wedding so exciting. But I will be really bad at keeping our meetings a secret. I won’t be able to stop talking about how great you are even if it makes Eunki-hyung jealous.”

Hyunmin sighed. Hyeongseob wasn’t going to get the chance to make Eunki jealous if Hyunmin didn’t get together with him. Hyunmin was unlikely to get together with Eunki if he didn’t go inside the cafe, ignore Hweseung’s date, and talk to Eunki’s ex-boyfriend to get some advice.

After around fifteen minutes it became apparent that getting advice from Eunki’s ex-boyfriend was not as good an idea as Hyunjun had implied. He seemed very happy to get the chance to speak to so many of Seunghyuk’s close friends who look after him so well. Seunghyuk on the other hand would not stop telling Eunki’s ex to shut up.

“I wouldn’t call all of these people my friends,” Seunghyuk said through gritted teeth.

“Does that include me?” Hyeongseob asked with a pout. “Jungjung-hyung, Seunghyuk is bullying me.”

“Seunghyuk,” Jungjung said, disappointed. “Hyeongseob is your friend. You love him lots!”

Seunghyuk sent Hyeongseob a pained expression and said, “I am starting to doubt how close we are if he insists on roping me into things like this.”

“Ah!” Jungjung exclaimed. He pointed across the table at Hyunmin and grinned. “It’s you, isn’t it! You’re the one who wants my Eunki.”

“He’s not yours anymore,” Hyeongseob interrupted quickly. He smiled encouragingly at Hyunmin, which was appreciated unlike the gagging noises Mina made as she returned from the counter with their drinks (and Hyunmin’s card which he hadn’t even notice disappear from his possession) and plonked the tray on the table. It must have been a coincidence that the majority of Hyunmin’s drink slopped over the side of his cup but he could only squint at Yeonjung’s similar but much fuller drink which could have been the victim of a last-minute swap to leave Hyunmin worse off.

“Thanks for paying for all the cakes that are about to be brought over,” Mina said. Hyunmin was even worse off than he thought.

“You’re right,” Jungjung says pensively, “Eunki isn’t mine anymore. He’s a good friend to have. Seunghyuk says you want Eunki to be your boyfriend.”

“That’s right,” Hyunmin nodded.

“That’s so funny,” Jungjung chuckled. Seunghyuk smiled like he was also in on the joke and Hyunmin did not like it at all. It wasn’t funny when he was serious about wanting to be with Eunki. All his pining and being a sub-par boyfriend to people until now was so that he could try to ask out Eunki properly. Being laughed at by Eunki’s ex-boyfriend in public was not part of the plan and Hyunmin had some choice words for Hyunjun when he returned home.

“Hyung,” Hyeongseob prompted impatiently, “Do you have any ideas for Hyunmin?”

“He likes kissing,” Jungjung said confidently.

“Wow,” Yeonjung drawled. “Have you tried kissing him, Hyunmin?”

“Of course I haven’t tried kissing him!” Hyunmin grumbled. “How can I kiss him out of nowhere. I need advice for before the kissing.”

“Haven’t you kissed most of the people at this table?” Seunghyuk asked pointedly. “Surely you know how to get someone to kiss you.”

“Uh, wow, I have _never_ kissed Hyunmin,” Yeonjung said. “Hyunmin has kissed two people at this table and neither of them is me.”

“Three,” Seunghyuk corrected quietly.

Yeonjung lifted her gaze from her drink for a moment and promptly returned to constructing a whipped cream cavern. Hyeongseob didn’t avert his attention quite so quickly. “ _You’ve_ kissed Hyunmin too?”

“Don’t say it so loudly,” Seunghyuk hissed.

“You’re the one who brought it up in the first place!” Hyeongseob retorted with a rising volume. “You’re supposed to be my friend but here your are kissing my Hyunmin!”

“I’ve kissed Hyunmin too, can you be this incredulous and end our friendship too?” Mina asked in a voice that sounded far too serious.

“Why do you want Eunki if you’re kissing all my other friends anyway?” Jungjung asked.

This wasn’t going well at all. Hyunmin wasn’t kissing any of these people anymore (Hyeongseob excluded). Seunghyuk had never indicated that he even remembered kissing Hyunmin even though Hyunmin could remember quite well how Seunghyuk had been dared to do it and earnt himself some homework answers that he didn’t even share with Hyunmin! This was not the time to bring up things like that when Hyeongseob apparently didn’t already know.

“Were you ever going to tell me that you kissed Seunghyuk?” Hyeongseob asked.

“No,” Hyunmin replied honestly. “Why would I have?”

“Friends tell each other things like that,” Hyeongseob sniffed.

“It was just a dare and it hurt my feelings anyway,” Hyunmin said quickly. “Seunghyuk will tell you that he was just being mean. Why would I tell you something like that when I am already so delicate?”

Hyeongseob regarded Hyunmin with suspicion before turning the stare onto Seunghyuk who shrugged. “It wasn’t worth mentioning at the time. It’s not like he’s a good kisser or anything.”

Yeonjung was doing a terrible job of pretending not to listen and snorted hard enough to make bubbles in her frappuccino. Mina patted her on the back and didn’t even defend Hyunmin’s honour as a good kisser. Betrayal was coming at him from every angle.

“Stop saying I’m a bad kisser. What if Mr Jungjung won’t help me?”

“Mr Jungjung will help you!” Jungjung said. “I can even teach you how to kiss so that Eunki won’t hate you!”

“I already know how to kiss!” Hyunmin hissed. “Hyeongseob, tell your friend that I am a good kisser.”

“Hyunmin is a very good kisser. Best I ever had,” Hyeongseob relayed soullessly.

“I’m convinced,” Mina said.

“Shouldn’t you already be convinced one way or the other?” Yeonjung asked.

“I was only half convinced because I’m sure Hyunmin spent more time kissing Hyeongseob than me when we were together.”

“Mina, I didn’t!” Hyunmin objected. “Hyeongseob and I never kiss if we’re not single. Even if we only kiss as friends that is still cheating.”

There was a wavering in Mina’s eyes in the moment before she nodded at him and he hated how strange things were as romance and friendship twined itself around the bonds of all of his relationships and made it difficult to distinguish where it was possible to pick the threads apart from one another.

“Hyunmin isn’t a bad kisser,” Mina said, only sounding marginally more convincing than Hyeongseob.

Jungjung frowned at Hyunmin. “Do you kiss Hyeongseob often?”

“Not… often,” Hyunmin said weakly. It felt too much like lying when he kissed Hyeongseob quite regularly just because. He didn’t want something like that to get in the way of the romance he had been cultivating in his heart since his youth. Hyeongseob would be his friend forever whether they kissed or not. Not getting good advice here would likely lead Hyunmin and Eunki achieve nothing together never. It wasn’t ideal.

“Why don’t you go out with Hyeongseob?” Jungjung asked. The question sounded sincere and that was the worst part.

“We already did a long time ago,” Hyunmin explained quickly. “I really love him but we don’t match well like that. And I have been in love with Eunki for basically my whole life, so.”

“You went out with Hyeongseob and still kiss him now even though you love someone else?” Jungjung asked.

“Don’t say it like that, Hyung, it makes me sound pathetic.”

“Hyeongseob isn’t pathetic,” Hyunmin said. “He likes someone else anyway.”

“So why don’t you go out with the person you like and kiss them, Hyeongseob?” Jungjung asked.

There are any number of scenarios which could have made things worse for Hyunmin. Eunki could have miraculously arrived at the cafe and come over to question why his ex was sitting with Hyunmin. Maybe Haknyeon and his boyfriend would decide to come to this cafe and Hyunmin would have to awkwardly wonder whether a real friend would even entertain the idea of using him to get back at someone. Even more likely was Hweseung extracting himself from his date with Bona to say hello and maybe laugh at Hyunmin for procrastinating talking to Eunki directly. But the most likely scenario of all was one that had Hyeongseob paling, frozen in his seat.

Woojin averted his eyes as he placed a tray of cakes on the table.

“I didn’t know everyone would be here,” He said in a low voice.

“I wouldn’t steal Hyunmin’s card if it wasn’t a special occasion,” Mina replied jocularly. Woojin didn’t even glance at her. He kept looking towards Hyunmin and Hyeongseob and there were so many other ways that this could have been a bad thing for Hyunmin but instead it was Hyeongseob who was struggling to thaw himself out enough to say something to Woojin.

“Is this someone else you’ve kissed, Hyunmin?” Jungjung asked.

“What?” Woojin spluttered. “Did you tell people that I asked you out?”

Hyunmin hadn’t told anyone and he had been hoping that enough time would have passed that it wouldn’t matter to Hyeongseob anymore. Clearly it did still matter and Hyeongseob’s ashen face was tie-dyed in splotches of embarrassment and streaks of mortification.

“Why would I tell anyone when Hyeongseob- Wait shut up, I didn’t say anything-”

Hyeongseob stood up abruptly and somehow managed to step on Hyunmin’s foot in the process. Any potentially broken bones in Hyunmin’s foot were forgotten with Hyeongseob yelling, “Why can’t you just keep your stupid mouth to yourself? If you’re not kissing someone you shouldn’t then you’re saying something you shouldn’t! Don’t talk to me ever again, Hyunmin.”

Woojin didn’t manage to dodge out of the way quickly enough before Hyeongseob barged past him and out of the cafe. He looked a little dumbstruck but muttered about returning to work and maybe seeing them later.

It was when Woojin had gone that Seunghyuk stage-whispered, “That’s who Hyeongseob likes.”

“What?” Jungjung asked. “If that’s who Hyeongseob likes why did he talk about asking out this boy instead of our Seobbie? Hyunmin, is it? I don’t think I want to help you anymore.”

Jungjung left swiftly without stepping on any feet or barging past any potential suitors on the way out.

“Well, that wasn’t a resounding success,” Mina commented.

Hyunmin could admit that he had been thoroughly stunned into silence by Hyeongseob storming out. He was employing all of the usual dramatics but it made Hyunmin’s chest ache. Hyeongseob was over the top by nature but this was his most genuine episode of storming away from Hyunmin.

Hyunmin hadn't seen Hyeongseob react so violently upset since they ended their week of being boyfriends and Hyeongseob very publicly accused Hyunmin of playing with his feelings. Unlike that time, Hyunmin was loath to expect a half-apology to ping across to his phone quarter of an hour later.

“Are you alright?” Mina asked. Beautiful, occasionally sympathetic Mina.

Hyunmin didn't know the answer. He would have loved to say yes as equally as he would have liked to say no just to see the furrow in her brow deepen and her eyes water on his behalf. But he had already carelessly upset enough people for today.

Woojin was looking very busy behind the counter, not doing much of anything due to the lack of customers, but he was glowing red right up to the follicles on his scalp so there was no way he could tell Hyeongseob that it didn’t matter.

“Hyeongseob said he didn’t want me to speak to him again,” Hyunmin said quietly.

“So what?” Yeonjung asked. Hyunmin had assumed she was making it her life’s work to make the whipped cream on her frappuccino last for as long as possible because of how determined she had been to ignore the topic of conversation. Since Jungjung had started talking she had been employing some impressive engineering techniques with the aid of a spoon and multiple straws. She hadn't even looked like she was listening, but the way she was looking up at Hyunmin from her project suggested otherwise. “You two are always announcing that you will never talk to each other ever again.”

Yeonjung was right, but it wasn't the same.

“But Hyeongseob didn't say Hyunmin was at level seven,” Seunghyuk said, frowning.

That was the worst part of it. Hyunmin wouldn’t have minded being told that he was hated or that he was the worst person in the world or that he had ruined somebody’s life because Hyeongseob told him those sorts of things over minor inconveniences like Hyunmin not buying Hyeongseob’s favourite snacks or logging onto Hyeongseob’s Instagram account on his phone to comment on someone’s selfie. But Hyeongseob rarely meant any of those things. He had definitely meant it all this time.

“Isn't level seven ‘you are dead to me’?” Mina asked. “Never speaking again is much more mild than that.”

“Isn't it level four then?” Seunghyuk asked, scratching his head. Mina punched Seunghyuk's arm and he only looked more baffled at that.

“How can you forget what level four is?” Mina looked genuinely shocked and Hyunmin was too. Level four was invoked far too often for people to forget what it was. Hyeongseob had spindly arms but his punches always left visible reminders of the pain.

“Level seven is deleting selfies,” Hyunmin grumbled. He had only just realised that level seven of the ignoring system could automatically be invoked during a more serious fall-out. Hyunmin coughed at the lump in his throat and tried not to sound so much like he wanted to cry. “Six is being dead, five is never speaking to each other again.”

“Your scale is stupid,” Yeonjung said. “Don't you think it was in bad taste that you do things like sending condolence cards to each other's families when you fall out and then congratulating them on the birth of their new son when you make up again?”

“Those were all things that Hyeongseob did,” Hyunmin said. He shouldn't have bothered defending himself because his voice cracked terrifically on Hyeongseob’s name. He missed him already, but it was not as though he could hope to make up easily. “Let's forget the Eunki-hyung plan for today. How can I make up with Hyeongseob again?”

“I am way ahead of you,” Yeonjung said confidently as she returned to preserving her whipped cream. Hyunmin gave her a few seconds to suddenly prove herself useful but he wasn't surprised when she didn't deliver. He should have known that she didn't care about anything involving men.

“Any ideas are welcome,” Hyunmin said in case the other two needed any encouragement.

“Seunghyuk, shouldn't you have gone after Hyeongseob?” Mina asked. It wasn't relevant to the subject Hyunmin had in mind. “I thought you were closer to him than to Hyunmin.”

“I am,” Seunghyuk admitted honestly. Hyunmin had found himself apologising to Seunghyuk for the fact that he ended up monopolising Hyeongseob’s attention at the beginning of their friendship. He couldn't help but recall Seunghyuk saying that Hyeongseob was the only reason that he tolerated Hyunmin’s company, kissing for dares aside. A teeny tiny masochistic part of Hyunmin wanted to hear why Seunghyuk hadn't left. It seemed even Yeonjung was curious as she said,

“It would make sense if you were the other Sunghyuk, because they are friends. You told me that you hate Hyunmin.”

“You can't call him ‘the other Sunghyuk’ because he is the only Sunghyuk. I am Seunghyuk. Seung! Seung!”

Hyunmin had hoped that the comment about being hated was going to be elaborated on rather than Seunghyuk's complex about his name. He sighed and accepted the fact that nothing was ever in his favour.

“You’re not hoping he’s going to kiss you again, are you, Seunghyuk, because that almost never happens when Hyunmin is sad,” Mina said cautiously. “If you want him to kiss you Hyeongseob needs to prep him for you.”

“What do you mean ‘prep’?” Hyunmin asked.

“Why would I want to kiss him when I said he was bad?” Seunghyuk asked.

“You surprised me and practically headbutted me,” Hyunmin said quietly. “Of course it would be a bad kiss. But I am never going to kiss anyone again. If Hyeongseob doesn’t want to be my friend anymore then there is no point in anything.”

“That’s the spirit,” Yeonjung agreed.

“That is not a good attitude to have,” Mina chided. “Just try to make things up to him. He’s upset for now but you’re best friends. It isn’t going to end over a boy asking the wrong one of you out.”

That was suspiciously kind of Mina to say. Hyunmin waited for the other shoe to drop but it never came. Instead she smiled and pushed one of the cakes towards him.

“You need to give this Eunki-oppa business a break and stop making everything about you for once. You know him better than anyone and I bet there is some stupid gesture that you could do to get him back again.”

Hyunmin could barely concentrate on the taste of the cake but the soft and springy texture of it in his mouth made him feel cheerful.

 

***

 

Hyunmin didn’t like the idea of asking Woojin to meet up with him when everything was so up in the air but he had turned up at the cafe several times and seen neither a strand of red hair nor an objectively cute snaggletooth. Woojin was disappointingly quick to respond to Hyunmin’s text asking to meet up but it was necessary to go ahead with the meeting and not wonder how long it would have taken to get a reply if Hyeongseob had sent the invitation.

“Hi,” Woojin said when he stood from the bench where he had waited at the park.

It was an awkward place to meet but Hyunmin’s usual place for meeting people he wasn’t particularly close with was Woojin’s workplace and that was asking for awkwardness. Woojin didn’t look as though he was considering any sort of awkwardness and drew Hyunmin into a hug as soon as he got close enough. The weather wasn’t very cold today but the breeze was brisk enough that Hyunmin was pleased with his last-minute choice to pull on his club jacket before he skipped out of the front door. Even through the jacket he could feel how cool Woojin’s clothes were, how eager he had been to see Hyunmin that he had arrived early and sat in the shade and withstood the breeze for however long it for them to meet.

Hyunmin pulled away from the hug and awkwardly gestured for Woojin to sit down. He had no idea why he would do such a thing as though this was his home and not a park but Woojin didn’t bring it up and smiled at him. Woojin sat a bit too close to Hyunmin and Hyunmin wished he could be so resilient after a rejection.

“What did you want to talk about?” Woojin asked. It should already have been obvious.

“Hyeongseob,” Hyunmin said.

“I have never done anything to suggest I am interested in him, I swear. I wouldn’t lead someone on like that. I will talk to him about things if that is what you want.”

“I do want you to talk to him,” Hyunmin said, wincing at his own words before they even came. “He really likes you, Woojin. And I’m not interested in you at all. So you should consider Hyeongseob. He’d be really good to you.”

Woojin sighed heavily. “I hoped this wouldn’t be it.”

“You probably wouldn’t like going out with me anyway. I’m selfish and inattentive. I would ignore you all the time and I rarely have anything nice to say. But Hyeongseob is really sweet. He-” Hyunmin had to collect his thoughts and realise that he didn’t have any good things to say about Hyeongseob from a romantic point of view. He had to draw from their friendship and hope that would be how Hyeongseob would treat anybody he dated now. Hyunmin smiled stiffly and continued, “Hyeongseob would think of you at every moment and always try to make you laugh. A day doesn’t go by without him texting me a joke or a funny animal video. Once we went out to a restaurant and I said that I only wanted to eat a certain dish for the rest of my life and he spent a week perfecting the recipe for me. It wasn’t great but I ate it all every time because he looked so happy that he had done something nice for me. And he’s just generally really cute and he sometimes does stuff that he thinks is really funny like when he shoved me into a bike rack and he nearly cried because all the bikes fell and he thought he broke my leg. Well it wasn’t that funny but he insisted on piggy-backing me everywhere for like three days. It was magical.”

“Right,” Woojin said flatly.

“You should give him a chance,” Hyunmin said. He had said a bit more than he intended and it was embarrassing to remember himself and have Woojin looking so disappointed with him in public. “I think you’ll really regret not giving a chance to Hyeongseob when he will be so good to you.”

“Why don’t you date him then?” Woojin asked.

Hyunmin must have been coming down with a cold. It was unseasonably cold for the summer and after the fair weather this solitarily chilled day was sure to compromise his immune system. He was sure that his sweating was due to a fever of some sort. He sniffed and tried to collect himself.

“We didn’t work like that. We’re better off as friends.”

“Didn’t you go out with each other in high school? We’ve all heard the story of him asking you out in front of everyone in your club. You were just kids. How can you know whether or not you’d work if that’s your only experience?”

Hyunmin didn’t like the sound of that when he was trying to do something good. He narrowed his eyes at Woojin, certain that he was correct about the regret Woojin was about to experience. “We both like other people. So it doesn't matter anyway. Hyeongseob likes you. That’s the point. I think you should give him a chance to prove what a great boyfriend he would be to you.”

“Doesn’t he like you too?”

“What?”

“You’ve kissed in front of me. Multiple times. I don’t think Hyeongseob likes me that much if he can do that,” Woojin reasoned.

It was strange because Woojin’s words almost sounded logical aside from the fact that he was dead wrong. The kissing wasn’t even relevant. It was simply a friendly gesture - a habit more than anything. It was the only thing they agreed they were good at as boyfriends and something that made things easier when they were deciding on whether they could be friends afterwards. It wasn’t something that was limited between the two of them. It was something they both did with their significant others, incumbent and otherwise, and it hardly meant anything these days. It just didn’t seem like something Hyunmin could easily explain to Woojin.

“Please just give him a chance, Woojin. That’s all I’m asking to make my best friend happy.”

Hyunmin deemed it was within the realm of politeness to leave before he got anymore flustered and said something he would regret.

 

***

 

Hyunmin had a week of not hearing from Hyeongseob and it was peaceful but not ideal. He spent longer at training and wondered why he had so much extra time when only one friend had stopped talking to him. He supposed the timing wasn’t awful when he could focus on sharpening his techniques enough to get good results at his next tournament.

He almost had something to look forward to when Eunki finally replied to a goodnight text with the promise of coming to support him at the weekend.

Hyunmin decided to play it cool and only sent a few smiling emojis before plugging his phone in to charge and rolling over to sleep that night.

 

***

 

On the morning of Hyunmin’s competition he woke up to Hyeongseob straddling his waist and smoothing something cool and damp onto Hyunmin’s chest. He breathed through the urge to sit up straight and just coughed lightly against the coldness dropping onto him as Hyeongseob worked. Hyeongseob’s brow was furrowed and the soft pink of his tongue poked between his teeth.

“Is this a dream?” Hyunmin croaked.

Hyeongseob chuckled before returning to concentrating on the task at hand. He absently murmured, “Your mum let me in. She wouldn’t let me have any breakfast until you woke up though.”

“Oh. What are you doing?” Hyunmin asked.

“I’m making you look cool,” Hyeongseob said.

“Do you want to explain in any more detail for me?”

“I’m giving you some temporary tattoos so that if your opponent tugs at your dobok the judges will see that you have all these sexy tattoos and award you extra points.”

That sounded like the opposite of what would happen and Hyunmin was sure people are deducted points for exhibiting much less flashiness at tournaments. But Hyeongseob clearly had his best interests at heart so Hyunmin held onto the hands pressed against his chest.

“I don’t think you realise how much I love you,” Hyunmin said solemnly. Hyeongseob smiled back.

“Of course I know how much you love me. I know that you spoke to Woojin for me.” That was supposed to be a secret. Hyunmin held on tighter to Hyeongseob’s hand but Hyeongseob pulled his hand free and said it was time to look at the tattoo. He peeled away the damp paper and dropped it on the side of Hyunmin’s bed. “He told me that he likes me as a friend and nothing more. But he still enjoys my company. Whatever that means. He refuses to hang out with me alone.”

“Maybe you misunderstood. Surely he meant to ask you out,” Hyunmin suggested.

“You mean you told him to ask me out,” Hyeongseob said pointedly. He smoothed his fingers slowly over the temporary tattoo of Spiderman perching dynamically on Hyunmin’s nipple. “You’re way too sweet for trying.”

“You like him. He should give you a chance,” Hyunmin said.

“Nope. He shouldn’t have to give me a chance just because I can’t leave him alone,” Hyeongseob shrugged. “One day there might be someone who likes me for me and they’ll sweep me off my feet.”

“Like me?”

“You have never swept me off my feet, Hyunmin,” Hyeongseob laughed. He rolled off Hyunmin and onto the mattress beside him. “I should just be happy with things the way they are now. I shouldn’t be getting upset over people not liking me back. I should just be the slut I was always meant to be and my feelings won’t matter at all.”

“I am not letting you become a slut.”

“What does it matter to you? I might be less miserable than I am now.”

“You didn’t let me finish,” Hyunmin said. “Without me. I’m not letting you become a slut without me.”

Hyeongseob laughed and smiled at Hyunmin, scrunched up his nose cheerily and Hyunmin realised he would have been fine if this was how he spent his last minutes on Earth. Almost.

“You said you didn’t want me to speak to you ever again.”

“That was rash,” Hyeongseob said. “I’m sorry. I… I don’t ever want that. I shouldn’t have said something like that just because I was embarrassed and upset.”

“I really... It feels stupid now because everything is just like before but I was really afraid that would be it for us. You didn’t use the scale or anything,” Hyunmin said quietly. He wasn’t sure whether he even wanted Hyeongseob to hear him or not but Hyeongseob stared at him intently enough that there was no question of whether he heard. “I really don’t know what I would do if you weren’t my friend anymore.”

Hyeongseob sighed. “I actually talked to my parents and, uh, to Hweseung-hyung. He really put some things into perspective for me in regards to you. We probably focus on the wrong things a lot of the time. Other things matter too, like the fact that we are going to be friends for life.”

Hyunmin couldn’t even be annoyed that Hweseung was being brought up here. Even if Hyeongseob was vague about the exact nature of the conversation that was had it was good to think about how Hyeongseob was lying on Hyunmin’s bed and smiling as though he would never want to implement the scale again. The abolition of the scale wouldn’t just depend on Hyeongseob turning over a new leaf.

“Hyeongseob,” Hyunmin whispered. “I’ll be better to you from now on. I won’t even do or say anything to hurt you. We can be old decrepit sluts together for the rest of our lives.”

Hyeongseob smiled slowly and slipped his hand into Hyunmin’s. “I’d love that.”

It was almost as though everything was fine. Things would be fine, Hyunmin reasoned. As soon as the taekwondo exhibition was over and he could freely beat Woojin up without any repercussions.

Hyunmin’s mum was happy to catch up with Hyeongseob over breakfast and he seemed even more ridiculously positive as he told her about his soul-crushing rejection. Hyunmin really was going to have to beat up Woojin, which was a shame, especially because Woojin was generally a nice person and a lot of people were going to find out exactly why he got his ass handed to him.

Mina didn’t look at all impressed as she listened to Hyunmin’s predicament in the spectator seating at the sports hall.

“You’re really dumb.”

“You can’t beat up someone for not wanting to date your friend,” Sohye reasoned emphatically. Hyunmin didn’t ask her but he doubted such a statement would be welcomed seeing as Mina was ready at any moment to wield her powerful arms against him.

“How am I dumb?” Hyunmin asked as he stood on his tiptoes to see whether Eunki was going to arrive any time soon. Mina pushed him down onto his heels and rolled her eyes.

“You don’t know how you’re dumb?”

“No, I don’t! Woojin should be tripping over himself to date Hyeongseob. Where else will he find someone as cute and thoughtful as my Seobbie?”

“ _Your_ Seobbie?” Sohye asked. She was doing an awful lot of butting in for someone who had asked Hyunmin out two months ago. She might have been involved with Mina now but Hyunmin wasn’t going to forget how her affections changed so easily. Either she was fickle or she was a hypocrite because Hyunmin didn’t see how loving his friends was something to be sniffed at.

“Yes, _my_ Seobbie, as in Ahn Hyeongseob is my friend. And I will beat up Woojin for rejecting him even though I _told_ him to ask him out.”

“You still don’t see how you’re dumb?” Mina asked. “Imagine how Hyeongseob would have felt if-”

“Yeah, good talk, I’ve got to run,” Hyunmin said. He already got the gist of what Mina was saying to him and none of that was important when Eunki had arrived (even if he was with his annoying friends who weren’t very nice to Hyunmin).

Hyunmin picked his way through the seats and pretended he couldn’t hear Mina calling him lots of names until he perched on the seats directly in front of Eunki’s. “It’s great to see that you finally came to one of these.”

Eunki laughed, a warm sound spilling from his chest and Hyunmin tried not to get too muddled down in the sound. “I had to see you eventually. I bet you’re going to be really cool today.”

“Of course,” Hyunmin preened. “I am going to be the very coolest. I will win all of my fights and do even better than expected because you’re here.”

“So you’d lose all your fights if Eunki didn’t come?” Insoo asked unhelpfully.

“Oh, it’s a shame that you aren’t very good, Hyunmin,” Kenta said. “Eunki can’t help you all the time though.”

Hyunmin was mature so he ignored Eunki’s friends and tried his hardest to maintain his smile. “I’m really good, Hyung. Make sure that you watch me well. I’ll be winning for you.”

“That’s sweet,” Eunki said. “I’ll be cheering you on.”

“Don’t even take a breath,” Insoo said. “If you stop for even a second Hyunmin will fail. We’re counting on you for him to not be so much of an embarrassment.”

Hyunmin hoped for something like a defence from Eunki but all he got was a chuckle and an insincere, “Good luck.”

It was fine because Hyunmin didn’t need luck. He took taekwondo seriously even if people only seemed to regard it as superfluous to the fact that they thought he used it to entice people. Hyunmin usually got asked out on at least one date after each tournament and exhibition as though it was some display to attract a significant other but he was an athlete before he was a serial romancer. It was probably Hyeongseob who started the tradition and made people forget that there was a different purpose to sport. Even if it was Hyeongseob who triggered the string of people asking Hyunmin to give them a try, the problem was Eunki hadn’t been part of the reaction.

Hyunmin was really cool He was so serious about taekwondo. He hadn't been practicing something since the age of six, learnt to love and made into part of himself just for people to think he wouldn’t be able to show what he had trained so long for. The audience didn’t even matter when he could analyse his opponent and score points where there were openings.

It was strange that Hyunmin wasn’t doing so well today. He just about managed to get through the exhibition routines but when it got the the sparring he was always a beat behind and he had to dodge far more than he was used to.

Being impressive wasn’t the main goal but he couldn’t even do well for his own pride. He was lucky that resetting the bout and and straightening their doboks gave him a chance to breathe and calm himself down. He couldn’t lose here. Not just because Eunki was watching but because he had a chance to increase his ranking as an athlete.

The referee made sure Hyunmin and his opponent were ready and looked between them as she instructed them on where to stand so that the next bout for points could begin. Hyunmin shuffled his feet. This was just like any other day. Just like always Hyeongseob was sitting with Hyunmin’s family and cheering for him. Mina was kind enough to come to watch and bring her girlfriend too and that was what their friendship boiled down to. His friends were always there for him regardless of whatever pasts they had or what their present involved.  

Hyunmin remembered the good luck text from Sunghyuk that morning, and Hyeongseob making up with him even though Hyunmin might not have deserved it, and Mina even coming along and telling him things that he didn’t want to hear. He had support from his friends and he had his training, years of honing his body to be the best at something, and he could do this. He was only down two points and it was good that two points was all it took for him to want to refocus himself.

Winning didn’t come as easily as Hyunmin would have liked but he had more fights after this and he wasn’t going to dwell on the mistakes he had begun to make. He had some water, tried not to get too distracted, and allowed himself a little wave in the direction of his family before his next fight.

 

Hyunmin did all that he could. His teammates hugged him and having them all slap his back and ruffle his hair was definitely on par with getting to stand on the second place podium. All that paled to the chokehold his mum pulled him into when the competition finished.

“You’re my little winner.”

“He came second,” Hyunjun pointed out.

“He’s my winner,” Hyunmin’s mum insisted. “What have you ever done to support your brother?”

“I allow this child to steal my clothes and give them to Hyeongseob. Isn’t that enough?” Hyunjun asked.

“Your clothes look better on me,” Hyeongseob sniffed. He tugged Hyunmin’s hand until he separated from his mum. Instead of hugging the way Hyunmin expected, Hyeongseob shoved his phone at Hyunmin.

“What’s this?”

“See for yourself,” Hyeongseob said.

“Hello?” Hyunmin said uncertainly. He knew it was unlikely for Hyeongseob’s phone to blow up in his hand but he was still worried as he held it up to his ear. “Who is this?”

“Are you a complete dunce? Did someone kick away the last of your brain cells?” Yeonjung yelled. “I am about to take back my congratulations.”

“You haven’t congratulated me yet,” Hyunmin said.

“Congratulations. Not really. You’re awful.”

“I’m not awful,” Hyunmin grumbled. Hyeongseob slipped his arms around Hyunmin’s waist and wasn’t at all subtle about trying to listen in on the conversation. Hyunmin didn’t pay him much mind and only leaned into his chest and he tried to defend himself against Yeonjung. “I came second. I won a lot of fights.”

“Someone had better have recorded them so I can see,” Yeonjung said.

“You want to see my fights? Do you want to see me be really cool?” Hyunmin smiled. Hyeongseob swiftly pecked Hyunmin on the cheek and said, “Yeonjung, you can watch the videos we took for Hyunmin’s training. He looks really cool.”

Yeonjung laughed, soft and low, and Hyunmin wondered why she wasn’t there to see him be cool in real life if she was going to be so eager about it. Yeonjung’s laugh turned sly at the question. “I’m sick. But I’m being nursed back to health by someone very… shameless.”

Hyunmin gasped. “I think you’re the shameless one, Yoo Yeonjung!”

Yeonjung laughed again. “Yeah? Don’t you think you should be shameless too? Have you said anything to Eunki-oppa yet?”

“I said hello to him earlier,” Hyunmin supplied. Hyeongseob pouted and stroked through Hyunmin’s hair though Hyunmin wasn’t even sure he needed to be pitied just yet.

He felt a bit pitiful when Mina came over with her girlfriend and cans of pop. She was lucky that Hyeongseob took a can without turning his nose up at the selection. He sipped from the can of Tropicana he was offered and muttered into Hyunmin’s ear about preferring mango over grape but he continued to drink it and offer sips to Hyunmin as he listened to Yeonjung express her disappointment in Hyunmin and his lack of initiative. He had heard it all before but then there were some familiar words which he had probably forgotten.

“You shouldn’t make yourself miserable by liking someone who won’t like you back.”

Hyunmin’s eyes flickered to Mina automatically. Giving up on someone who didn’t like her back had worked for Yeonjung. She hadn’t even directly approached the situation but Hyunmin couldn’t fault her for that when the answer was plain enough for everyone to see even without being so close to the situation. Yeonjung had someone else regardless of whatever futile feelings still clung to her and it had freed her from moping so much over Mina. It might even have protected their friendship.

Hyunmin wondered if Hyeongseob was in a similar boat. He drank his pop as though unbothered but Hyunmin wasn’t so sure. He could hear Yeonjung on the other end of the phone and it wouldn’t have taken much for him to apply the situation to himself when Woojin had rejected him contrary to Hyunmin’s wishes.

Eunki had finally accepted an invitation to one of Hyunmin’s tournaments, even if it took Hyunjun pestering him to committing to coming along. Hyunmin couldn’t waste this chance even if he was tired of being in this situation with so many others before.

“I’ll decide today,” Hyunmin said to Yeonjung. She wished him luck, which was very kind and Hyunmin supposed getting a girlfriend agreed with her more than he expected.

The thing was that Hyunmin didn’t get to much time to decide. After getting changed and being formally dismissed, free to do whatever he wished with the few days before training would start up again, he was intercepted before he could rejoin his family and friends at the venue entrance.

“Hyunmin,” Eunki said, appearing from nowhere (Hyunmin hadn’t seen him as he jogged over to let his mum praise him a bit more and take pictures of his medal to show off to the extended family. Eunki was tall and very handsome and a difficult person to miss so he felt off-kilter, stumbled into Hyeongseob’s side and tried not to look so dumbstruck as he failed to string together enough words to respond).

“Uh, hi, Eunki-hyung.”

“I heard that you’re going out to dinner to celebrate.”

“Yeah,” Hyunmin nodded quickly. “It’s a bit of a tradition now. Would you like to join us?” Hyunmin was giving himself this one last chance. He didn’t want to waste it but he wasn’t sure whether his very obvious hope was helping or hindering his chances. He tried a smile to take off the edge, Hyeongseob pinched him in the back and it felt like a good luck charm. Eunki smiled down at him briefly and it was as though all the luck Hyeongseob transferred to him burnt away in a second.

“I’d love to eat with my piggy Minnie but I have plans with Kenta-hyung and Insoo-hyung,” Eunki said. He gestured behind him as though Hyunmin would need any help spotting Eunki’s two annoying friends and that was all it took.

This was Hweseung again, knowing that Hyunmin liked him and wanted more than he was ever going to get, smiling at Hyunmin as though it was a kind thing to do while never directly giving him a reason to give up or continue to keep liking him. Hyunmin should have been grateful that he was allocated even this much time because Eunki was too busy with his other friends who didn’t think much of Hyunmin. Hweseung was the same even if he invited Hyunmin to confide in him and want something that wasn’t really allowed.

Hyunmin never had any luck in the first place. He smiled.

“I’m glad that you could come to see me today. I was cool wasn’t I?”

“You were very cool,” Eunki agreed with a soft smile which crinkled his eyes as he rocked back on his heels.

“Have fun with your friends, Hyung.”

“You too,” Eunki said. He lingered for a moment but Hyunmin realised that these were the things he had been searching for and drawing up strange conclusions. Eunki thought he was being considerate by letting Hyunmin break off conversations whenever he liked. The one control he ever had was something which was rationed out to him by Eunki himself.

“I’ll see you later, Hyung,” Hyunmin said. Eunki hugged him quickly and left with Insoo and Kenta.

“What was that?” Hyeongseob asked crossly.

Hyunmin shrugged. He could work out where to draw lines as well as Hyeongseob could. “He’s nice to look at but I don’t think we match very well.”

“What are you saying?” Hyeongseob asked. “You’d be perfect together! You’ve wanted to ask him out for so long.”

“I’ve had enough chances to do it that I have realised I don’t want the result of asking him out.”

Hyeongseob frowned. Hyunmin couldn’t quite explain it himself but he felt as though he had realised something big. Whatever thoughts were taking shape, Hyunmin didn’t feel disappointed in himself for leaving things as they were. He felt settled. He had a dinner with his family, Hyeongseob and Mina (and Sohye, Hyunmin supposed) to get to. After that he would consider using one of his days off to beat up Woojin for Hyeongseob.

Hyeongseob punched Hyunmin in the arm as they walked back to where Hyunmin’s mum was taking a head-count. Mina raised her eyebrows when they got close enough and hissed, “Give me an excuse to put both of you at level four.”

Hyeongseob didn’t even spare Hyunmin a glance before he inhaled deeply and said, “Hyunmin has ruined the romantic prospects of everyone he has ever dated and Sohye will dump you by the end of the week.”

Hyeongseob really should have expected to get punched by both Hyunmin and Mina as Sohye spluttered about not being so fickle. It was good that someone present claimed to be less fickle than the rest of them.

Hyunmin was just glad that he could snapchat the affliction of additional bruises from Hyeongseob and Mina during dinner and get some sort of sympathy from Sunghyuk.

**Author's Note:**

> the ending is a bit rushed but i think i tied up all the loose ends that i care about lmao


End file.
